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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new application for the widely used ultrasound imaging technology is showing promise in identifying people at high risk for heart attack
and stroke.
With the images and computer enhanced gray scale median measurements (GSM), researchers at the Medical University in Vienna were able to determine the density of plaque lining the carotid artery. The patients examined had no symptoms but had a high risk for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events.
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The scientists explained plaques that have dark ultrasound images and a low GSM level seem to be unstable, and are more likely to rupture or burst. The dark image and low GSM are also associated with clinical complications.
In follow-up ultrasounds, of the 40 percent of the patients with low GSM levels, 37 percent had a stroke, heart attack, coronary artery bypass or other surgical intervention.
In the 60 percent of the patients whose GSM levels were high, 28 percent had similar problems.
The authors note the results showed the vulnerable plaque in the carotid artery was not only an indicator of increased risk of stroke, but was also associated with disease progression elsewhere in the cardiovascular system.
This technique will give us additional information to use in selecting patients that need aggressive treatment, research leader Markus Reiter, MD was quoted as saying. Reiter also pointed out that ultrasounds could be a good, non-invasive alternative for developing therapeutic strategies.
SOURCE: Radiology, September 2008
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