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External Ultrasound for Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Treatment
Author(s) -
Zhang Yan,
Dong Honglin,
Xu Yuming,
Shi Runhua,
Gu Jingming,
Lang Hongzhi,
Gao Jianbo,
Zhang Wayne W.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.7863/ultra.34.3.451
Subject(s) - medicine , ultrasound , carotid arteries , nuclear medicine , prospective cohort study , radiology
Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of external ultrasound in the treatment of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. Methods In the prospective study, 357 patients with 363 carotid atherosclerotic plaques were divided into an ultrasound treatment group and a control group. For 30 days, conventional medical treatment was conducted on 54 plaques in the control group, whereas irradiation therapy in addition to conventional medical treatment was conducted on 309 plaques in the ultrasound group. Carotid sonography was conducted before and after treatment, and the maximum plaque thickness and area were measured in a longitudinal section. Results No patients withdrew from the treatment because of related side effects. After treatment, the maximum thickness and area of 79.94% of the plaques in the ultrasound group were reduced, whereas in the control group, the thickness and area of 18.52% were reduced. The mean changes in plaque thickness and area ± SD in the ultrasound and control groups were 0.22 ± 0.19 mm (7.61% ± 5.67%) versus 0.02 ± 0.05 mm (0.74% ± 1.64%) and 0.047 ± 0.039 cm 2 (13.28% ± 9.8%) versus 0.0044 ± 0.0102 cm 2 (1.1% ± 2.46%), respectively. Changes in both plaque thickness and area in the ultrasound group were significantly greater than those in the control group ( P < .0001). Furthermore, the plaque echo type was another prognostic factor affecting efficacy ( P < .05). Conclusions External ultrasound treatment is safe and effective for carotid atherosclerotic plaques and is worthy of further research and applications. The efficacy in anechoic/hypoechoic plaques is significantly higher than that in mixed echoic and calcified echoic plaques.