Assessment of Carotid Plaque Enhancement on Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound as a Predictor for Severe Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

Background and Aim Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) can reliably identify vulnerable plaques. As atherosclerosis is a systemic disease, we evaluated whether contrast enhancement of carotid plaque (CECP) can predict severe coronary artery disease (CAD) by comparing CECP in patients who have had acute coronary syndromes (ACS) recently with asymptomatic individuals.

Keywords

• coronary artery disease
• contrast-enhanced ultrasound
• intraplaque neovascularization
• contrast enhancement of carotid plaque