Functional and Anatomic Evaluation of Carotid Atherothrombosis

Abstract

Abstract We examined the relation between in vivo thrombogenicity and the morphology of carotid lesions to clarify the role of platelet deposition in carotid atherothrombosis. We evaluated 60 subjects (120 carotid bifurcations) who had at least one established risk factor for atherosclerosis by using indium 111 platelet scintigraphy and high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography. We evaluated platelet accumulation in the carotid arterial wall by means of a dual-tracer method that used In 111–labeled platelets and technetium 99m–labeled human serum albumin. The tracer accumulation was assessed both visually and semiquantitatively by using the platelet accumulation index, ie, the ratio of radioactivity of the amount of In 111–labeled platelets deposited on the vascular wall to the amount of radioactivity in labeled platelets circulating in the blood pool. The morphology of the carotid lesions was analyzed with B-mode ultrasonography in terms of the presence of ulceration, the maximum percent stenosis, the echogenicity of plaque, and the plaque score, which indicates the severity of systemic atherosclerosis. Platelet accumulation increased with increase in plaque score ( P <.01), and the magnitude of platelet accumulation was significantly greater in lesions with ulceration than in those without ( P <.05). The platelet accumulation index in vessels with plaque showed a very weak but significant correlation with maximum percent stenosis ( r =.28, P <.05) and a stronger correlation with the unilateral plaque score ( r =.42, P <.0001). Analysis of the echogenicity of plaque showed that heterogeneous plaque had a high frequency of accumulating platelets. Platelet accumulation was related to the surface characteristics and severity of carotid lesions, especially in the presence of ulceration.