Relationship between vulnerability of carotid artery plaques evaluated by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and the prognosis of cerebral infarction

Seventy two patients with initial cerebral infarction admitted in the Second Hospital of Jiaxing from March 2017 to October 2017 were enrolled. Patients underwent conventional ultrasonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography for two-dimensional echo grading and neovascularization grading of carotid artery plaques respectively. There were 113 carotid plaques in 72 patients with cerebral infarction,27 cases recurred after 1 years with 44 patches. The echo grading of recurrence group was mainly grade Ⅰ and grade Ⅱ,the number of Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ plaques was 23,18,and 3,respectively. The echo grading of non-recurrence group was mainly grade Ⅲ,the number of Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ plaques was 36,23,and 40,respectively. The echo grading of carotid artery plaque between the two groups was significantly different (P Ⅰ,neovascularization grade>Ⅱ and neovascularization grade>Ⅲ in predicting the recurrence of cerebral infarction were 0.553,0.641,0.587,0.793 and 0.557,respectively,the AUC of neovascularization grade>Ⅱ was significantly higher than the other four criteria (P<0.01). The recurrence curves of carotid plaques with different neovascularization grades were significantly different (χ2=49.18,P<0.01). Carotid plaque vulnerability evaluated by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is an effective indicator for predicting recurrence of cerebral infarction. Key words: Cerebral infarction; Recurrence; Carotid plaque; Ultrasonography