Diagnostic value of cervical vascular ultrasound combined with CT angiography in carotid artery plaque in patients with cerebral infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To clarify diagnostic value of cervical vascular ultrasound (CVUS) combined with CT angiography (CTA) in carotid artery plaque in patients with cerebral infarction. METHODS: A total of 110 patients with cerebral infarction upon admission to our hospital from January 2021 to December 2023 received enrollment and performed CVUS and CTA examination. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) received application as the gold standard to compare the diagnostic efficiency of different detection methods. RESULTS: DSA examination was performed on the bilateral carotid arteries (220 carotid arteries) of 110 patients, and 194 plaques were detected, including 73 soft plaques, 93 hard plaques and 28 mixed plaques. A total of 174 carotid artery stenosis cases were detected, including 73 mild stenosis cases, 42 moderate stenosis cases, 36 severe stenosis cases and 23 complete stenosis cases. The accuracy rate of CVUS combined with CTA in detecting carotid artery plaque was 93.81% (182/194), higher than that of CVUS (75.77%, 147/194) and CTA (76.80%, 149/194), with significance (P<0.05). The accuracy of CVUS combined with CTA in detecting carotid artery stenosis was 94.83% (165/174) higher than that of CVUS (78.74%, 137/174) and CTA (84.48%, 147/174), with significance (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: CVUS combined with CTA has a high diagnostic accuracy for carotid artery plaque lesions in patients with cerebral infarction, providing the basis for clinical diagnosis and follow-up treatment.