Relationship Between Carotid Plaque Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography Features and Cerebral Infarction

XIE Aihua; YUAN Shengmei; HE Yanjie

doi:10.14033/j.cnki.cfmr.2025.34.017

Abstract：Objective:To investigate the relationship between carotid plaque ultrasonic shear wave elastography and cerebral infarction.Method:88 patients with carotid artery plaques in Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University from October 2022 and December 2023 were selected as research subjects.Two-dimensional ultrasound was used to detect the carotid artery plaques in these patients.Based on the characteristics of the plaque echoes,the nature of the plaques was assessed and classified into strong echo,mixed echo,and low echo plaques.Then,using ultrasound shear wave elastography(shear wave elastography,SWE)technology,the stiffness value(Young's modulus value)of the carotid artery plaques was measured.The incidence of cerebral infarction was evaluated by tracking observation and medical record analysis.Result:There were significant differences in Young's modulus values among the three groups,with the highest in the group of strong echo plaque,followed by the group of mixed echo plaque and the lowest in the group of low echo plaque;the incidence of cerebral infarction decreased with the increase of carotid plaque hardness(Young's modulus value),with significantly significant difference(P<0.05).Conclusion:The characteristics of carotid plaque ultrasound shear wave elastography are closely related to the incidence of cerebral infarction,i.e.,the incidence of cerebral infarction decreases with the increase in the value of carotid plaque stiffness(Young's modulus value).