ArticleInternal and emergency medicine2025
Mortality and recurrence in acute ischemic stroke of all etiologies according to ultrasonographic assessment of carotid and aortic arch plaques: a prospective study.
Article in Internal and emergency medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Carotid duplex ultrasound helps to determine the degree of stenosis or occlusion and characterizes plaque composition and vulnerability, which is crucial for stroke risk stratification. Recurrent ischemic stroke poses a significant risk to individuals, with about one-third of stroke survivors experiencing a repeat event within 5 years. Large-artery atherosclerosis, such as carotid, aortic, and femoral arteries, further increases the risk of recurrent strokes and influences prognosis. Moreover, stroke can result in worse outcomes, including higher morbidity, mortality, and cardiovascular complications in the 3 years after. In recent years, a simple, non-invasive ultrasound evaluation through the suprasternal notch has been proposed for identifying atherosclerosis of the aortic arch, with good sensitivity and specificity. Despite its non-invasive nature and growing clinical relevance, the prognostic utility of aortic arch ultrasound in the context of ischemic stroke of all etiologies remains underexplored. This study aims to evaluate the link between ultrasound characteristics of aortic and carotid plaques and the risk of mortality and recurrent stroke among patients with acute ischemic stroke. One hundred-eight patients with first-episode acute ischemic stroke, a mean age of 71.3 (13.4) years, underwent carotid Duplex and transthoracic aortic arch ultrasounds. They were followed up every 6 months for 3 years. The results revealed that while carotid plaques and stenosis were not significantly associated with recurrent stroke, the absence of plaques was associated with higher survival rates (p = 0.008). Conversely, the simultaneous presence of plaques in both the common and internal carotid arteries was associated with increased mortality (p = 0.004). Finally, echo-lucent intimal lesions, according to the Gray-Weale classification, are considered high-risk plaques and showed good sensitivity (89.6%) but poor specificity in predicting outcomes at 3 years (AUC = 0.63, p = 0.0164). These findings suggest that routine non-invasive ultrasound evaluation of both carotid and aortic arch can be beneficial in stratifying patients for secondary prevention and improving stroke care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40855141What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.