Stroke Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stroke, including details on treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, signs, symptoms.

Carotid intima-media thickness: is it correlated with stroke side?

Onbas O, Kantarci M, Okur A, Bayraktutan U, Edis A, Ceviz N

Department of Radiology, Medical School, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey. oonbas@hotmail.com

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to investigate the possible correlation between the common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness (IMT) and the infarct side. METHOD: The CCA IMTs in patients with atherosclerotic non-lacunar stroke were measured. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 64.3 +/- 10.7 years (range 40-83 years) and 42 of 100 patients were male. The infarcts were at the left side in 53 patients and at the right side in 47 patients. The mean CCA IMT was 1.02 +/- 0.18 mm at the infarct side and 0.87 +/- 0.17 mm at the contralateral side. The difference between them was statistically significant (P < 0.01). Although the mean age of the patients with a left-sided infarct was greater than that of the patients with a right-sided infarct, the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that CCA IMT may be used in prediction of possible infarct side, and in the prediction of potential risk of stroke by evaluating the IMT of both CCAs separately.

Published 4 February 2005 in Acta Neurol Scand, 111(3): 169-71.
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