CEUS in quantitative evaluation of vulnerable plaques in patients with large artery atherosclerosis stroke: Correlation with leukocytes / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the correlation between CEUS quantitative parameters of carotid plaques and leukocytes in patients with acute ischemic stroke.Methods Sixty-two patients with large artery atherosclerosis stroke (LAAS group) confirmed by CT or MRI were enrolled,while 54 patients in the same period of hospitalization,age and gender-matched,no history of cardiovascular events with atherosclerosis were taken as control group.The correlation between CEUS quantitative parameters of carotid plaques and leukocytes in two groups were compared.Multiple linear regression model was built and the risk factors of CEUS quantitative parameters were analyzed.Results The total leukocytes count,neutrophils count and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in LAAS group were higher,while the lymphocytes count was lower than those in control group (all P＜0.05).CEUS parameters,including timeqntensity curve (TIC) peak (TIC-P),mean (TIC-M),fitting curve (FC) peak (FC-P),sharpness (FC-S) and area under the curve (FC-AUC) of carotid plaques were higher than those in control group (all P＜0.05),while neutrophils count and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio were positively correlated with FC-AUC (r=0.298 and 0.739,respectively;all P＜0.05).Total leukocytes count was independent risk factor of TIC-P,and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was independent risk factor of FC-AUC (all P＜0.05).Conclusion CEUS quantitative parameters of carotid plaques related to leukocytes count.Increased leukocytes or neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio might rise vulnerability of plaques.