Nonatherosclerotic pathology of the neck vessels: prevalence and flow patterns.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence and flow characteristics of nonatherosclerotic pathologies of the cervical vessels.


METHODS
From 1997 to 2003, 11 480 ultrasound tests were performed for neck vessel evaluation on patients with cerebrovascular symptoms and trauma, and on asymptomatic patients with a bruit, cervical mass, or prior to aortocoronary bypass. When necessary, these findings were confirmed by other imaging modalities.


RESULTS
A total of 3010 repeated tests were excluded, leaving 8470 patients. The prevalence of nonatherosclerotic pathologies (n = 55) was 0.65%. The most common was thromboembolism (n = 19, 0.22%), followed by dissection (n = 16, 0.19%), carotid body tumors (n = 5, 0.06%), aneurysms (n = 4, 0.05%), fibromuscular dysplasia (n = 4, 0.05%), Takayasu's arteritis (n = 1, 0.01%), pseudoaneurysms (n = 5, 0.06%), and arteriovenous fistulae (n = 1, 0.01%). Cerebrovascular symptoms were present in 27 patients (49%).


CONCLUSIONS
Nonatherosclerotic pathology accounts for 0.65% of patients referred for neck vessel evaluation. About half of them are symptomatic. Diagnosis of these pathologies and knowledge of their flow characteristics is important for patient management.
Labropoulos
Nicos
N
Division of Vascular Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA. nlabrop@yahoo.com
Leon
Luis R
LR
Gonzalez-Fajardo
Jose A
JA
Mansour
Ashraf M
AM
Kang
Steven S
SS
D000783:Aneurysm / Q000473:pathology; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000473:pathology; D017541:Aneurysm, False / Q000473:pathology; D001164:Arteriovenous Fistula / Q000473:pathology; D002345:Carotid Body Tumor / Q000473:pathology; D005352:Fibromuscular Dysplasia / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009333:Neck / Q000098:blood supply*; D015995:Prevalence; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000473:pathology; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000473:pathology; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology