Carotid Artery Aneurysm

Abstract

The role of ultrasound in today's world has become a standardized routine practice, but has had a drastic impact on the landscape of vascular medicine. The advent of this technology plays a major role in helping to identify several types of disease and lesions throughout the vasculature of the body, especially in the use of ultrasound in relation to the carotid arteries. This noninvasive examination can detect and determine the type of atherosclerotic lesions in vessels and identify a hemodynamically signifi cant stenosis that could potentially cause a stroke. If a high-grade lesion is detected, surgery may be required in the form of a carotid artery endarterectomy or carotid stenting to reduce the risk of stroke. These are the most common reasons for a carotid ultrasound, but in rare cases other disease processes can also be found, such as aneurysms. These aneurysms can occur for various reasons with one being due to previous surgical interventions. Identifying a carotid aneurysm with ultrasound is a rare occurrence that often leads to surgical intervention for the patient.