Symptomatic carotid plaques and ischemic symptoms
Redgrave JNE., Lovett JK., Rothwell PM.
We assessed the histologic features of 526 carotid plaques from consecutive patients undergoing endarterectomy for symptomatic carotid stenosis and found a high prevalence of coronary-type plaque instability with strong correlations between macrophage infiltration and both cap rupture and time since stroke. Temporal trends were much weaker after a transient ischemic attack than after a stroke, with a tendency for plaque features to persist for a longer period, suggesting heterogeneity in the underlying pathological mechanisms.