Vojnosanit Pregl
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Color Doppler ultrasonography and multislice computer tomography angiography in carotid plaque detection and characterization.
Cerebrovascular diseases are the third leading cause of mortality in the world, following malignant and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, their timely and precise diagnostics is of great importance. The aim of this study was to compare duplex scan Color Doppler ultrasonography (CDU) with multislice computed tomography angiography (MSCTA) in detection of morphological and functional disorders at extracranial level of carotid arteries. ⋯ Atherosclerotic disease of extracranial part of carotid arteries primarily affects population of middle-aged and elderly, showing more associated risk factors. Sensitivity and specificity of CDU and MSCTA regarding plaque composition, the degree of stenosis and plaque localization are almost the same. These results and the fact that there are no adverse effects (high radiation dose) compared to MSCTA indicate that CDU should be the initial method in diagnostic algorythm for carotid arteries.