The Evaluation of the Hemodynamically Significant Stenosis of the Carotid Arteries: Analyzing the Results from the Duplex Scanning of Vessels, from the Computed Tomographic and the Transcatheter X-ray Contrast Angiography

Background: Atherosclerotic stenosis of the carotid arteries is one of the main reasons of stroke, of transient ischemic attacks, of developing cognitive disorders and of incapacitating the population. The key indication to invasive treatment for this disease is the degree of stenosis in the carotid artery, due to which the most important problem in the diagnostics is the maximally precise evaluation of the stenosis degree. The duplex scanning of the carotid arteries is a safe, non-invasive and relatively inexpensive visualization method, which is the first line of diagnostics. The precision of measuring the stenosis and the occlusion of the carotid artery, according to the ultrasound examination data, varies from 70% to 90%. At the same time, the degree of stenosis, measured using various methods, does not always match.