• Ann Vasc Surg · May 2012

    Comparative Study

    Relationship between plasma homocysteine and the morphological and immunohistochemical study of carotid plaques in patients with carotid stenosis over 70%.

    • Beatriz Alvarez, Xavier Yugueros, Elisabeth Fernández, Federico Luccini, Anna Gené, and Manuel Matas.
    • Servicio de Angiología, Cirugía Vascular y Endovascular, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 30908bag@comb.cat
    • Ann Vasc Surg. 2012 May 1; 26 (4): 500-5.

    BackgroundSeveral clinical and epidemiological studies describe hyperhomocysteinemia as an independent cardiovascular risk factor. Implication of cellular immunity in atherosclerosis also seems clear. This study aimed to analyze the association among plasma hyperhomocysteinemia, neurological clinical events, and the morphology and immunocytology of carotid plaques in patients with carotid stenosis >70% receiving surgical treatment.MethodsSixty-two patients with carotid stenosis >70% receiving surgical treatment were studied; 58% had a history of stroke in the ipsilateral carotid territory. Plasma homocysteine concentrations were determined by considering pathological values >12.4 μmol/L. Histopathological (stable and unstable plaques) and immunohistochemical (macrophages, T lymphocytes, and active T lymphocytes counts) studies were performed. Hyperhomocysteinemia prevalence was calculated in this population, as were the possible relationships between homocysteine plasma concentrations, and the carotid plaque type and the cell types in it. The relationship between this risk factor and the presence of a neurological event relating to carotid stenosis was also investigated.ResultsHyperhomocysteinemia prevalence was 43.5%, with a mean value of 11.8 μmol/L (median; range = 2-41.8 μmol/L). No significant differences were found between homocysteine levels and the plaque's morphological characteristics, or between the cell types analyzed. Elevated concentrations of homocysteine were not significantly higher in patients with a history of stroke.ConclusionThe present study confirms high hyperhomocysteinemia prevalence in patients with extracranial cerebrovascular disease, although no relationship between plaque complication phenomena and this cardiovascular risk factor was observed.Copyright © 2012 Annals of Vascular Surgery Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…