ABSTRACT

Carotid artery stenosis (CAS) is most often the consequence of atherosclerosis which has a predilection for large and medium-sized systemic arteries and can lead to infarction of different organs including the heart and the brain. Through its diverse clinical manifestations, atherosclerosis is a leading cause of disability and mortality (1,2) despite lifestyle modifications and new pharmacological interventions (3). Atherosclerotic disease of the extracranial and intracranial carotid arteries is responsible for a substantial proportion of all strokes (4,5), and stenotic lesions in particular account for approximately 15-20% of all ischemic strokes (4-8), which remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, in population studies (9), the presence of carotid stenosis detected by ultrasound is a strong predictor of mortality in itself.