Sonography of the carotid artery | How can a stroke be prevented?

Sonography of the carotid artery

Sonography of the carotid artery (arteria carotis) can be used to assess the risk of a stroke. An ultrasound examination is used to determine what the walls of the carotid artery look like. For example, if there are vascular constrictions (stenoses) or small deposits (plaques) can be detected.

The speed of the blood flow through the blood vessel can also be assessed. When should this examination be performed? Doctors recommend having this examination performed in patients who suspect arteriosclerosis.

Special risk groups are smokers, diabetics, overweight people, people who have already suffered a heart attack or stroke. If the examination already reveals more serious deposits in the area of the carotid artery, there is an urgent need for action. The risk factors for arteriosclerosis present in the patient must be minimized or eliminated.

Only in this way can a stroke be prevented. However, if a narrowing of the carotid artery (stenosis) is already present, a vascular surgeon should be consulted. Depending on the severity of the vascular stenosis, there are various treatment options.

Stent

A narrowing of the carotid artery (carotid stenosis) is responsible for about 20% of all strokes. Due to the slowly progressing process of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), the blood flow through the blood vessel is increasingly constricted. However, it only becomes really dangerous for the patient when parts of these arteriosclerotic calcifications (plaques) detach from the wall of the blood vessel and are washed into the brain.

Here they can clog smaller blood vessels and the patient can suffer a stroke. To prevent this, selected risk groups should have regular ultrasound scans of the carotid artery. In the case of more severe constrictions, surgery usually had to be performed to remove the calcifications.

Nowadays, a narrowing of the carotid artery can also be treated minimally invasively with a stent. A stent is a small wire tube that supports the blood vessel wall.Similar to the heart, it is introduced from the groin into the bloodstream via a catheter. The study results for this procedure are superior to other results. Especially in patients with a high risk of surgery, a stroke can be prevented in this way.