European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Background:: Sonographic evaluation of the carotid arteries, both gray scale and doppler is widely used for risk assessment for cerebrovascular accidents.
Aims: Aim of this study was to evaluate stroke and transient ischaemic attack patients with carotid ultrasound for Intimal thickness, presence and characterization of plaque (type, surface and site), spectral waveform analysis with percentage of stenosis,
Materials and methods: This is a prospective studyof 50 patients of cerebrovascular insufficiency who presented to the Radiology and Imaging During the period of 20 months of study, cases of cerebrovascular insufficiency were evaluated with colour Doppler sonography and CT.
Results: In our study of 50 cases, 30 were males and 20 were females with a male: female ratio of 3:2.26 patients had hemiperisis,12 had hemiplegia ,aphasia 4 patients and TIA seen in 5 patients. .It is observed that IMT more than 0.8mm has high risk of CVA .in our study IMT more than 0.8mm was found in 35 pts(70%).out of which 20pts were in age group of 60-69(57%),10 patients in the age group of 50-59(28%),and 5 patients in age group of 40-49 (14%). Out of 100 vessels examined, significant stenosis i.e., >50% stenosis was seen in 8 (8%) vessels on colour flow imaging. Out of the 8 vessels with significant stenosis 7 showed 50-69% stenosis, 1 showed >70% stenosis . Based on the Peak systolic velocity ratio of ICA/CCA, 7 vessels showed significant stenosis i.e, ratio > 2. In 7  vessels the ratio was between 2-4, , in 1 vessels it was more than 4, Out of the 12cases with significant stenosis ( > 50%) , cases (75%)  had a cortical infarct,  two cases(16.6%)  had a subcortical infarct.
Conclusions:Doppler sonography provides a rapid, non-invasive, relatively in expensive and accurate means of diagnosing  carotid stenosis.