Incidence of ischemic stroke every year increases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization ischemic stroke in 2017 were 1.12 million incident strokes in the European Union. It is projected that in Europe stroke events in future will rise from 1.1 million in 2000 to 1.5 million per year by 2025, making it the second commonest cause of death. Therefore, it is necessary to understand stroke risk factors, treatment options, mortality reduction options and disease outcomes. Diseases affecting the carotid arteries can lead to acute...

Nowadays in clinical practice there is a necessity for early detection of new biomarkers that will significantly reduce the risk of ischemic stroke, improve prognosis, and effectively customize treatment options for each patient. Duplex Doppler ultrasonography with high frequency probe allows adequate visualization and evaluation of carotidarteries in both duplex Doppler mode and B mode (greyscale ultrasound). Visibility of vascular flow may be difficult due to atherosclerotic vessel damage. In such cases, a microbubble contrast agent can be used as signal booster to improve the...

CEUS examination conducted after B mode and Color doppler and Spectral doppler multiparametric ultrasound evaluation by the ultrasound equipment with specific contrast software using contrast agent SonoVue (Bracco, Milan) 1,0-4,8 ml with intravenous administration of contrast bolus followed by saline flush (10 ml). CEUS scanning usually is performed continuously for first 90 seconds and continued intermittently for up to 3-5 minutes. The dynamic process of scanning is stored as cine loops and still images with information about timing. Stored clips are used for later review...

CEUS as an advanced ultrasound method provides additional characteristics of the atherosclerotic plaque instability and vasa vasorum detection, with positive correlation to the grade of stenosis and histological results and are useful in daily clinical practice for stroke risk awareness. Despite the excellent results described above, some limitation factors, such as extensive calcinosis with important acoustic shadow in carotid atherosclerotic plaque neovascularization diagnostics by CEUS, are still evident. CEUS remains an operator dependent imaging technique and bidimensional analysis of the plaque enhancement assumes that the...

A. Lioznovs: Nothing to disclose M. Radzina: Nothing to disclose L. Saule: Nothing to disclose I. Briede: Nothing to disclose

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