Assessment of carotid atherosclerotic plaques using ultrasonographic elastography

Objective To evaluate the features of carotid atherosclerotic plaques on ultrasonographic elastography. Methods A total of 45 atherosclerotie plaques of the carotid artery in 33 patients were found with routine ultrasonography, all the 45 atherosclerotic plaques were divided into soft plaque, fibrous plaque, mixed plaque and calcified plaque. The elastograms of the plaques were oberseved and the strain contrast(stiffness ratio) of blood tissue in common carotid artery to plaques were calculated. Results Seventeen soft plaques, 15 mixed plaques and 13 calcified plaques were founded using routine ultrasonography, but 0 fibrous plaques were founded. The soft plaques were shown in green, the mixed plaques were showen as mosaic of green and blue and the calcified plaques were showen in blue by ultrasonographic elastography. The strain contrast in patients with calcified plaques and mixed plaques were significantly higher when compared with the soft plaques group(P 0. 001, P <0.05). The strain contrast in patients with calcified plaques was significantly higher than the mixed plaques group (P < 0.001). Conclusions Ultrasonographie elastography could be used in carotid arteries atherosclerotic plaques. Various of acoustic characteristics plaques has different elastography and strain contrast. Key words: Ultrasonography; Carotid artery diseases; Atherosclerosis; Elastography