title: [Analysis of carotid artery of patients with acute ischemic stroke by dual-source computed tomographic angiography].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the changes on carotid artery of patients with acute ischemic stroke by dual source computed tomographic angiography (DS-CTA) .
  
  
  METHODS
  From March 2009 to August 2010, 71 patients with acute ischemic stroke (IS group) underwent magnetic resonance imaging, which showed high signals on diffusion-weighted images. The location of atherosclerotic plaques in carotid artery, the nature of plaques, and the grade of stenosis were analyzed by DS-CTA, and the results were further compared with 45 patients with non-ischemic stroke (control group) .
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the IS group, 196 atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery were detected in 51 patients; the commonest locations included carotid artery bifurcation (52.0%) and trunk (20.4%) . Most plaques were combined plaques [52.0% (102/196) ] and soft plaques [27.0% (53/196) ] . Moderate and severe stenosis accounted for 86.3% in these 54 patients. The positive rate, nature, and location of plaques and the stenosis degree of artery were significantly different between IS group and control group (allP<0.05) .
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The commonest plaques in the carotid artery of patients with acute ischemic stroke are combined plaques and soft plaques, which often cause moderate and severe stenosis.
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital, Kunming Medical College, Kunming 650032, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yuan-ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shu-qing
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tun
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D020521:Stroke / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods