Active clinical trials for "Carotid Stenosis"

In the first portion of the study, the goal will be to determine the safety of the drug Abciximab for use during and in the period after open carotid artery surgery. In addition, using specialized ultrasound equipment (a probe that is placed on the outside of your skin of your head), we will aim to measure the number of particles released around the time of surgery while being treated with Abciximab. The second phase of the study will be determine if Abciximab can safely reduce the number of particles released into the bloodstream around the time of surgery in order to reduce the risk of stroke.

The combination of aspirin and dipyridamole, two antiplatelet drugs, is approved in Italy for the secondary prevention of cerebral embolism in patients with carotid atherosclerosis. Besides antiplatelet activity, Dipyridamole has additional pharmacological action, including vasodilation and antioxidant properties. A role for oxidative stress has been suggested in acute cerebrovascular disease. In this study the investigators want to test the in vivo antioxidant activity of dipyridamole in patients who are candidate to take the drug under approved conditions of the Italian Drug Regulation Agency, i.e. secondary prevention of TIA/Stroke in patinets with carotid stenosis (>= 70%). To test the hypothesis that dipyridamole acts as antioxidant in vivo, oxysterols (products of cholesterol autoxidation) and vitamin E are measured in plasma before and after 6 months therapy after carotid endoarterectomy. Since dipyridamole is approved as combination preparation with aspirin, a control group of patients taking aspirin alone is enrolled. Outcome measures: plasma biomarkers (oxysterols and vitamin E) change at two time points: baseline and 6-months therapy.

Hypothesis: Identification of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques (with or without neovascularization) using carotid CEUS is an independent predictor of MACE (over clinical risk factors, stress echo wall motion results, and carotid ultrasound two-dimensional speckle tracking strain indices). Primary Aims: Evaluate the diagnostic role of carotid CEUS and two-dimensional speckle tracking strain imaging for detection of carotid plaque: To determine the feasibility and safety of Carotid CEUS and Two-dimensional speckle tracking strain imaging SE . To determine if carotid CEUS and two-dimensional speckle tracking strain imaging findings are associated with coronary angiographic results in those patients undergoing clinically indicated cardiac catheterization. To determine the diagnostic accuracy of CEUS in identifying a vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque and neovascularization compared to carotid MRI, in a subset of patients. Evaluate the prognostic role of carotid CEUS and two-dimensional speckle tracking strain imaging for prediction of MACE: To determine if plaque identification (with or without neovascularization) on Carotid CEUS SE can improve the overall prediction of MACE over stress echo results alone To determine if Carotid ultrasound two-dimensional speckle tracking strain indices can improve the overall prediction of MACE over stress echo results alone. To determine if the detection of plaque neovascularization by Carotid CEUS is an independent predictor of MACE (over clinical risk factors, stress echo wall motion results, and carotid ultrasound two-dimensional speckle tracking strain indices).

Approximately 2000 patients eligible for elective treatment with a Carotid Stent according to hospital routine practice in centers across Europe will be enrolled in the study. The maximum number of patients enrolled at each site will be not limited. Follow-ups are scheduled at discharge, 30 days, and 1 year, as per local practice. Each patient will have follow-up contacts via hospital visit and/or telephone.

About 20% of strokes are caused by emboli deriving from a carotid plaque. In symptomatic patients with carotid stenosis grater than 70% the Carotid Endarterectomy (CEA) reduces stroke risk by about 75% and is generally accepted as being cost effective. However also in these cases there is a part of the population that, according to the morphological plaque characteristics, could better benefit from a conservative medical treatment. Improving the Best Medical Treatment, the situation seems to be even less clear in asymptomatic patients, where probably it would need to treat at least 32 patients in order to prevent one single ictus. Different parameters have been considered in order to determine, among the asymptomatic patients the ones that more than others could benefit from a surgical revascularisation instead of a medical treatment. Between these parameters, the quality of the plaque (vulnerability) and the micro-embolic signals (MES) detection with the Transcranial Doppler (TCD) Holter seems to be the most relevant. Another interesting aspect is trying to establish whether plaques can determine a different embolic risk in relation to the different histological findings. Therefore, it seems interesting and reasonable trying to establish a correlation between these two parameters in asymptomatic patients as in the symptomatic ones in order to make more and more appropriate a surgical plaque removal according to the specific risk of each patient in a set of tailored surgery. It consists in a descriptive observational study, since it intends to describe the embolic signals detection (MES) counted in automatic way with the TCD Holter, in patients affected by carotid stenosis, before and after the surgical operation. In particular it consists in a monocentric, longitudinal, prospective cohort study since it intends to analyse a group of patients (already candidates to CEA) that experiences a specific event (MES) before and after the surgical plaque removal, in a precise span of time. Since the treatment, removing the plaque, should remove the embolic focus too, a significant reduction of microembolic signals in post-operative time is expected. This reduction has been esteemed around about the 70% among candidates to CEA. Patients taken on responsibility of the equipe will undergo an ultrasonographic investigation for the carotid stenosis, histological characterization of the plaque based on the Gray-Weale classification and TCD-Holter for MES.

Carotid revascularization can significantly reduce the risk of stroke in patients with severe carotid stenosis; however, it has been associated with cognitive decline in 25% of the older adults who undergo the procedure. Characterizing risk factors for cognitive decline following carotid interventions and individualizing treatment strategy based on those risks can minimize procedure-associated cognitive dysfunction. Neuroimaging techniques that characterize white matter integrity and regional hypoperfusion have the potential to provide sensitive brain structure indicators that may be associated with memory decline following revascularization procedures. In this protocol, we hope to determine how cerebral blood flow and baseline white matter abnormality in the vulnerable region modify the frequency and cognitive effect of microembolization following carotid revascularization procedures.

Patients scheduled for carotid endarterectomy undergo preoperative imaging to assess vulnerable plaque. The imaging modalities include (in various combinations at different study sites) 3-dimensional ultrasound, PET/CT imaging with fluorodeoxyglucose, MRI (3T)with gadolinium, and contrast ultrasound for assessment of neovascularity of plaques. At surgery the carotid endarterectomy is carried out with en bloc removal of the specimen, which is scanned and stained and assembled into 3D histology.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of two different loading doses of Clopidogrel and a reloading of Atorvastatin in the prevention of periprocedural ischemic brain damage in patients undergoing carotid angioplasty.

The purpose of this study is to determine patient variables, physician presenter variables, and information variables that might affect clinical decision making in asymptomatic carotid stenosis. The hypothesis is that information variables are the most significant determinant of clinical decision making.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this clinical trial is to study the cost-effectiveness ratios of diagnostic strategies for the imaging assessment of symptomatic carotid stenosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The diagnostic accuracies of Doppler ultrasound (DUS), contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CEMRA) and computed tomography angiography (CTA) were compared with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in a multicenter study (CARMEDAS; 206 patients assessable) and in a meta-analysis (for CEMRA and CTA). The direct costs of each imaging method were calculated in 2 university medical centers. Eight hypothetical models were studied with DUS considered as the first-line imaging method and either CEMRA or CTA or DSA as the second or third line method. The effectiveness criterion was the number of potential avoided strokes for each strategy and for 1000 patients.