Carotid plaque morphology improves stroke risk prediction: usefulness of a new ultrasonographic score.

Carotid thickening and plaque detected by B-mode imaging ultrasound are useful to improve the ischemic risk evaluation in asymptomatic subjects over and beyond the traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Some plaque's echographic parameters help describing the vascular risk. We hypothesized that the stenosis degree, plaque surface irregularity, echolucency and texture, compounded in a Total Plaque Risk Score (TPRS), are predictors of the ischemic events in the San Daniele study, a general population-based study of 1,348 subjects followed for 12 years in average. In the 171 subjects with at least one plaque at baseline, high TPRS was the most powerful independent predictor of cerebrovascular events, which occurred in 115 subjects. Addition of plaque characteristics significantly increased the area under the ROC curve (0.90 vs. 0.88, p = 0.04) versus the Framingham risk score alone. The TPRS is a potential new tool to improve the stroke risk prediction.