The Correlation between Calcium Volume and Carotid Artery Stenosis in Patients with Neurologic Symptoms

摘要

Based on the strong correlation between calcium volume and carotid artery stenosis, some studies suggest using carotid calcium volume to diagnose carotid artery stenosis. However, a negligible correlation between calcium volume and carotid artery stenosis was found in symptomatic patients suspected of having carotid stenosis. The aim of this study was to further assess the reliability of using carotid calcium volume in the diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis in symptomatic patients.We retrospectively examined the carotid CT angiography of 65 patients suspected of having carotid artery stenosis. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to evaluate the correlation between calcium volume and degree of carotid stenosis. Using calcium volume thresholds of 0.03 and 0.06 mL, the diagnostic performance of the calcium volume for determining a stenosis degree of > 40% and > 50% was investigated.