title: The role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in imaging carotid arterial diseases.
abstract: The standard of care for the initial diagnosis of carotid artery bifurcation diseases is carotid duplex ultrasound. Carotid abnormalities or difficult examinations may represent a diagnostic challenge in patients with clinical symptoms as well as in the follow-up after carotid endarterectomy, carotid artery stenting or other interventions. A promising new method in the diagnosis and follow-up of pathologic carotid diseases is contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). In comparison with magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography, the contrast agents used for CEUS remain within the vascular space and hence can be used to study vascular disease and could provide additional information on carotid arterial diseases. This review describes the current carotid duplex ultrasound examination and compares the pathologic findings with CEUS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Klinikum Grosshadern, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Germany. Dirk.Clevert@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Dirk A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Clevert
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paprottka
authors.forename: Wieland H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Helck
authors.forename: Maximilian F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Reiser
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zengel
mesh_terms: D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003287:Contrast Media; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media