Indikacije za ultrazvočno preiskavo vratnih arterij
Indications for ultaosund of the neck arteries

slovenian

2011

volume 80, issue 7/8

Slovensko zdravniško društvo
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

Ultrasound of the neck arteries is a reliable, noninvasive and safe investigation. It enables the evaluation of atherosderosis in the pri mary prevention of vascular diseases and has an even more important role in the secondary prevention of ischemic stroke. A quarter of ischemic infarctions canbe explained by hemodynamically important carotid stenosis and subsequent thrombembolism. Patients with a hemodynamically important carotid stenosis have a bad prognosis which changes dramatically if they receive surgical, endovascular or even intensive drug treatment. Due to time and human resource limitations we can not perform ultrasound of the neck arteries in the entire population. Patients who need urgent investigation are lo st in the crowd of other not so urgent patients, and therefore we wrote the present guidelines. Carotid ultrasound is an urgent investigation for most symptomatic patients - ABCD score enables evaluation of emergency. In the group of asympto matic patients screening of particular endangered groups of patients is recommended.The evaluation of emergency should be rational and also based on age and dinical data of the patient. A referring physician should follow the present guidelines and make decision about the urgency of the investigation.

30.01.2012