title: Incremental predictive value of carotid inflammation in acute ischemic stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Microwave Radiometry (MWR) allows in vivo noninvasive assessment of internal temperature of tissues. The aim of the present study was to evaluate in patients with ischemic stroke and bilateral carotid plaques (1) whether ipsilateral carotid arteries exhibit higher temperature differences (ΔT), as assessed by MWR; (2) the predictive accuracy of MWR in symptomatic carotid artery identification.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive patients with recent acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke because of large artery atherosclerosis were included in the study. Carotid arteries of all patients were evaluated by carotid ultrasound and MWR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 50 patients were included in the study. Culprit carotid arteries had higher ΔT compared with nonculprit (0.93±0.58 versus 0.58±0.35°C; P<0.001). The addition of ΔT to a risk prediction model based only on ultrasound plaque characteristics increased its predictive accuracy significantly (c-statistic: 0.691 versus 0.768; Pdif=0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Culprit carotid arteries show higher thermal heterogeneity compared with nonculprit carotid arteries in patients with acute ischemic stroke and bilateral carotid plaques. MWR has incremental value in culprit carotid artery discrimination.
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.). ktoutouz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toutouzas
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.).
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Benetos
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.).
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drakopoulou
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.).
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deligianni
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.).
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spengos
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.).
authors.forename: Christodoulos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.).
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Siores
authors.affiliation: From the First Department of Cardiology, Hippokration Hospital (K.T., G.B., M.D., C.S., D.T.), and First Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital (C.D., K.S.), Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece; and Department of Research and Innovation, Centre for Materials, Research and Innovation, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK (E.S.).
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tousoulis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008872:Microwaves; D008875:Middle Aged; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000276:immunology*; D011874:Radiometry; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D020521:Stroke / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D013696:Temperature; D013817:Thermography; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: acute stroke; carotid atherosclerosis; inflammation