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16 - Assessment of carotid plaque with conventional ultrasound

from Morphological plaque imaging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2009

By
Stephen Meairs
Edited by
Jonathan Gillard ,
Martin Graves ,
Thomas Hatsukami  and
Chun Yuan
Stephen Meairs
Affiliation:
University of Heidelberg, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Jonathan Gillard
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Martin Graves
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Thomas Hatsukami
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Chun Yuan
Affiliation:
University of Washington
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Summary

Introduction

Over three decades ago continuous-wave (CW) Doppler was introduced as the first ultrasound (US) investigation for evaluation of carotid stenosis. Since that time, the rapid development of noninvasive US techniques has resulted in a wide variety of clinical applications for assessment of carotid disease. This chapter will discuss the clinical merits and limitations of US techniques for evaluation of both early and advanced carotid disease. It will then address recent developments including carotid plaque perfusion and molecular imaging of carotid disease.

Ultrasound techniques for evaluation of carotid disease

Doppler sonography

US Doppler techniques are commonly used for examining the carotid arteries. Interpretation of Doppler signals is based on analysis of the audio signals and of the frequency spectrum. The Doppler effect is named after Christian Doppler, who described the effect of moving objects on the change in frequency of emitted light in 1842. This effect is familiar to anyone who has stood in one place and listened to a source of sound passing by. The rising pitch of the passing movement of sound rushes toward the listener and equally drops as the source leaves him behind. Similarly, the Doppler frequency shift, which is the difference between emitted and received US frequency, is proportional to the velocity of moving blood cells.

CW Doppler systems use two transducers, one of which emits while the other receives US continuously.

Keywords

atherosclerotic diseasecarotid artery stenosiscarotid plaquemolecular imagingultrasound techniquesultrasonographic techniques
Type
Chapter
Information
Carotid Disease
The Role of Imaging in Diagnosis and Management
 , pp. 208 - 222
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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