The application value of carotid artery plaque load combined with quantitative ultrasound parameters in evaluating the degree of neurological deficits in acute cerebral infarction patients
Liu Yue
Pian Linping
Li Chao
Tian Jing
Zhang Hongli
Yan Haifeng
Gu Tenghui
Abstract：Objective To explore the application value of carotid artery plaque load combined with quantitative ultrasound parameters in evaluating the degree of neurological deficits in the patients with acute cerebral infarction (ACI).Methods A prospective study was conducted on 106 ACI patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine from January 2020 to January 2023 as the research subjects.All the patients underwent color Doppler ultrasound examination.The national institutes of health stroke scale (NIHSS) was used to evaluate the degree of neurological deficits in ACI patients who were divided into mild deficit group,moderate deficit group and severe deficit group.The carotid plaque load index and quantitative ultrasound parameters of patients in different groups were compared.Pearson correlation was used to test the correlation of carotid plaque load index and quantitative ultrasound parameters with NIHSS score of patients.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to analyze the value of carotid plaque load index combined with quantitative ultrasound parameters in evaluating the degree of neurological deficits in ACI patients.Results According to the NIHSS evaluation results,there were 35 cases in the mild and moderate deficit groups and 36 cases in the severe deficit group among the 106 patients.The plaque thickness,vessel wall area,total vascular area and normalized wall index (NWI) in the severe deficit group were higher than those in the moderate and mild deficit groups,and the moderate deficit group was higher than the mild deficit group with statistically significant differences (P<0.05).The lumen area of the severe deficit group was lower than that of the moderate and mild deficit groups,and the moderate deficit group was lower than the mild deficit group with a statistically significant difference (P<0.05).The intima-media thickness (IMT) and end diastolic blood flow velocity (EDV) of the common carotid artery in the severe deficit group were higher than those in the moderate and mild deficit groups,and the moderate deficit group was higher than the mild deficit group with a statistically significant difference (P<0.05).The peak systolic blood flow velocity (PSV) of the common carotid artery in the severe deficit group was lower than that in the moderate and mild deficit groups,and the moderate deficit group was lower than the mild deficit group with a statistically significant difference (P<0.05).Pearson correlation test showed that plaque thickness,vessel wall area,total vascular area,NWI,IMT,EDV were positively correlated with NIHSS score (r>0,P<0.05).PSV and lumen area were negatively correlated with NIHSS score(r<0,P<0.05).ROC curve was drawn,and the results showed that the combination of carotid artery plaque load index and quantitative ultrasound parameters had high evaluation value for moderate and severe neurological deficits with area under the curve (AUC) of 0.936 and 0.987,respectively.Conclusions The combination of carotid artery plaque load and quantitative ultrasound parameters can effectively evaluate the degree of neurological deficits in ACI patients.
Keywords：Acute cerebral infarctionPlaque thicknessVessel wall areaTotal vascular areaNormalized wall indexThe intima-media thickness of the common carotid arteryEnd diastolic blood flow velocityThe peak systolic blood flow velocity
Publication Date：2024-12-10
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 1029-1035 )