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Atherosclerosis of the aorta: a risk factor, risk marker, or an innocent bystander?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Tunick, Paul A. Kronzon, Itzhak |
| Copyright Year | 2005 |
| Abstract | In a recent issue of the Journal, Meissner et al. (1) should be congratulated for carrying out a community-based transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) study of thoracic aortic plaque. However, because they included patients with descending aortic plaque (which is more prevalent than arch plaque), their negative conclusions regarding stroke are flawed. It is simply not plausible to consider plaque limited to the descending aorta as a cause of cerebral embolization. Earlier studies of aortic arch plaque have found a 12% (2), 12% (3), and 13.7% (4) risk of cerebral embolization. This is 50% higher than the 8% risk of stroke in the “high risk” Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation (SPAF)-III study patients (5). In fact, if these “high risk” Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation (SPAF) study patients had no significant plaque in the aorta on TEE, their risk fell to 1.2%. Although the investigators recognize this problem in their limitations section, we would like to re-emphasize that aortic arch plaque is associated with a high risk of stroke. |
| Starting Page | 768 |
| Ending Page | 772 |
| Page Count | 5 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/accj/45/11/1907.2.full.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/accj/45/11/1907.1.full.pdf |
| PubMed reference number | 15936630v1 |
| Volume Number | 45 |
| Issue Number | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of the American College of Cardiology |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Aortic Valve Insufficiency Aortic arch structure Atherosclerosis Atrial Fibrillation Cerebrovascular accident Chest Dental Plaque Descending aorta Echocardiography Echocardiography, Transesophageal High Risk Acute Leukemia Patients Senile Plaques |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
