Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Apr 6, 2019; 7(7): 839-848
Published online Apr 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i7.839
Value of superb micro-vascular imaging in predicting ischemic stroke in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques
De-Bin Yang, Jie Zhou, Lan Feng, Rong Xu, Ying-Chun Wang
De-Bin Yang, Jie Zhou, Lan Feng, Rong Xu, Ying-Chun Wang, Department of Ultrasonic Imaging, Jiading District Central Hospital Affiliated Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Author contributions: Yang DB, Zhou J, Feng L, Xu R and Wang YC contributed to the manuscript design and manuscript writing; All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Shanghai Jiading District Health and Family Planning Commission Health Planning Commission Scientific Research Project, No. KYXM, 2015-KY-02.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the ethics committee of Jiading District Central Hospital Affiliated Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences.
Informed consent statement: All patients gave informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ying-Chun Wang, MD, Chief Doctor, Department of Ultrasonic Imaging, Jiading District Central Hospital Affiliated Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences, No. 1 Chengbei Road, Shanghai 201800, China. wangyingchun4478@163.com
Telephone: +86-21-67073318
Received: January 16, 2019
Peer-review started: January 16, 2019
First decision: March 10, 2019
Revised: March 14, 2019
Accepted: March 16, 2019
Article in press: March 16, 2019
Published online: April 6, 2019
Core Tip

Core tip: Unstable carotid plaques are easily ruptured leading to the occurrence of ischemic stroke. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is currently the primary means of assessing plaque stability, but it cannot be used for screening for unstable plaques. Superb micro-vascular imaging is able to check for low-speed blood flow in the plaque and is expected to be a screening tool for unstable plaques. This study found that superb micro-vascular imaging shows promise in predicting ischemic stroke.