Abstract
Soft, lipid-containing carotid plaques, which appear echolucent on ultrasound imaging, have been associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke. We sought to investigate the effect of short-term treatment with atorvastatin on the change of carotid plaque echodensity. We treated 40 stroke-free and statin-naive subjects with 80 mg atorvastatin daily for 30 days. Computer assisted gray-scale densitometry (GSD) index was calculated at baseline and 30 days after treatment from the normalized plaque images. A multiple logistic regression was used to assess the effect modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol on plaque stabilization after adjusting for age, sex, and smoking. The average number of carotid plaques at baseline was 2 (range: 0-5; 27 subjects with carotid plaque) and did not change 30 days following atorvastatin treatment. The mean GSD index significantly increased from 73±16 (range: 1-125) at baseline to 89±15 (range: 1-137) at 30 days after treatment (P
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 991-994 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Neurological Research |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2011 |
Keywords
- Atherosclerotic plaque
- Carotid arteries
- Carotid ultrasound
- Echolucency
- Statins
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Neurology