The Association between Carotid Artery Atherosclerosis and Silent Brain Infarction: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Carotid atherosclerosis is responsible for ~20% of ischemic strokes, but it is unclear whether carotid disease is associated with the presence of downstream silent brain infarction (SBI). We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to study the relationship between SBI and 2 separate manifestations of carotid atherosclerosis, carotid intima-media thickening (IMT) and luminal stenosis.

Methods

Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, and the Cochrane Library Database were searched with an additional search of references and citing articles of target studies. Articles were included if they reported an association between carotid IMT or stenosis and magnetic resonance imaging-defined SBI, excluding SBIs found after carotid intervention.

Results

We pooled 7 studies of

SUBMITTER: Finn C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5474126 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature