FREQUENCY OF CAROTID ARTERY STENOSIS AMONG ISCHEMIC STROKE PATIENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Ischemic stroke is almost 68-85 percent of all stroke occurrences in the world and is one of the most common causes of morbidity and death. Carotid artery stenosis, which is mainly attributed to atherosclerosis, is one of the biggest risk factors of ischemic stroke because of thromboembolic or hemodynamic processes. Cerebrovascular events must be prevented by detecting carotid artery stenosis at its early stages.

Objective: To find out the prevalence of carotid artery stenosis in patients who presented with ischemic stroke in a tertiary care hospital.

Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional study done in the Department of Medicine, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, during six months from November 2024 to April 2025. One hundred and sixty-nine patients who had CT-verified ischemic stroke and were aged between 30 and 70 years were recruited through consecutive non-probability sampling. Doppler ultrasound was used to measure Carotid artery stenosis. Stenosis was regarded as high when peak systolic velocity (PSV) exceeded 2.3 m/s and the internal carotid to common carotid artery (IC/CC) systolic ratio was more than 4:1. SPSS version 21 was used to analyze data.

Results: The average age among 169 patients was 58.4 9.6 years. The sample size of males was 61.5. Carotid artery stenosis was found in 94 (55.6) patients. In 63.8% they engaged unilaterally and in 36.2, bilateral stenosis was observed. There were significant links between carotid artery stenosis and hypertension (p=0.01), diabetes (p=0.03) and smoking(p=0.02).

Conclusion: More than 50 percent of patients with ischemic strokes had their carotid artery stenosis. The use of carotid Doppler screening in the routine care of ischemic stroke patients might be used to provide early response and stroke prevention.