Computerized Assessment of Carotid Plaque Echogenicity before Stenting.

SUMMARY: To assess the ability of transcutaneous ultrasound (US) to identify carotid atherosclerotic plaques at high risk for development of procedural strokes, the authors retrospectively analyzed the plaque echomorphology by means of gray-scale value (GSV). Both transcutaneous and intravascular US demonstrated a similar ability to characterize the atherosclerotic plaques. A case with embolic complication was proven to have had the lowest GSV in the studied cases. With computerized assessment of plaque echogenicity, pre-procedural transcutaneous US may be used to predict plaques that are associated with a high risk of distal embolization.