OBJECTIVETo investigate the changes on carotid artery of patients with acute ischemic stroke by dual source computed tomographic angiography (DS-CTA) .

METHODSFrom March 2009 to August 2010, 71 patients with acute ischemic stroke (IS group) underwent magnetic resonance imaging, which showed high signals on diffusion-weighted images. The location of atherosclerotic plaques in carotid artery, the nature of plaques, and the grade of stenosis were analyzed by DS-CTA, and the results were further compared with 45 patients with non-ischemic stroke (control group) .

RESULTSIn the IS group, 196 atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery were detected in 51 patients; the commonest locations included carotid artery bifurcation (52.0%) and trunk (20.4%) . Most plaques were combined plaques [52.0% (102/196) ] and soft plaques [27.0% (53/196) ] . Moderate and severe stenosis accounted for 86.3% in these 54 patients. The positive rate, nature, and location of plaques and the stenosis degree of artery were significantly different between IS group and control group (allP<0.05) .

CONCLUSIONThe commonest plaques in the carotid artery of patients with acute ischemic stroke are combined plaques and soft plaques, which often cause moderate and severe stenosis.