Noninvasive arterial imaging
Fatty plaques within the
carotid artery build up over time, leading to a risk of stroke or other transient
ischemic attack. To reduce the possibility of stroke, patients with substantial
blockages (70 percent or more stenosis) of the carotid artery traditionally have
been eligible for a risky surgery, called endarterectomy, to remove the plaque.
Some patients with lower amounts of blockage (50 to 69 percent stenoses) also can
be eligible for this procedure. Unfortunately, determining the amount of stenosis
in an artery also requires an invasive, risky and expensive procedure: intra-arterial
angiography.
Since the mid-1990s, imaging techniques
such as computed tomographic angiography, Doppler ultrasound, and magnetic resonance
and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography have emerged as candidates
to replace intra-arterial angiography. Each method is noninvasive and, therefore,
much less risky. However, according to Joanna M. Wardlaw of Western General Hospital
in Edinburgh and her colleagues at the Universities of Oxford and Leeds, all in
the UK, there is scant evidence that any of these alternatives is ready to replace
intra-arterial angiography outright.
In a meta-analysis of nearly 25 years
of imaging studies, Wardlaw and her colleagues located only 41 papers with acceptable
studies to consider. Most of the 631 studies that they excluded had very small patient
populations, included only some noninvasive techniques, or possibly or definitely
used suboptimal study designs. They concluded that — used cautiously —
any of the noninvasive techniques could replace intra-arterial angiography, especially
to image 70 to 99 percent stenoses, but not before more and better studies are conducted
to prove their value.
They recommend that future studies
ensure consistent double-blinding efforts; include patients’ groups that
are more relevant than those in previous studies; use prospective recruitment techniques;
use standard, approved patient-selection processes and describe them adequately;
provide analysis on a per-patient rather than per-artery basis; report the ratio
of symptomatic to asymptomatic arteries in each patient; and ensure clearly defined
stenosis thresholds, rather than use rounding techniques or nonstandard ranges other
than, for example, 70 to 99 percent. (
The Lancet, May 6, 2006, pp. 1503-151.)
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