The relationship between carotid phenotypes and metabolic syndrome in patients with ischemic stroke

Abstract

Introduction. The metabolic syndrome (MS) represents one of the most important elements in the pathogenesis of strokes. Purpose. To estimate the frequency of the MS and to assess its relationship with various phenotypes of carotid artery in patients with ischaemic stroke. Material and methods. We conducted a retrospective study on 210 patients with ischaemic stroke. All subjects were examined in the Cerebrovascular Diseases Department of the Institute of Emergency Medicine, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence/absence of the MS: 1 st group consisted of 102 patients with MS, respectively 2 nd group - 108 patients without MS. Results. 48.6% of patients had MS. Mean age of the studied group was 66.9±8.5 years. Atherosclerotic plaques with severe carotid stenosis at the extracranial level were found in 32.3% of the participants from the 1 st group compared to 17.5% from the 2 nd group. It has been noted that there is a significant difference between the intima-media thickness values and the diameter of common carotid artery in these two groups (p<0.001, p=0.04) (tab. 3). It has been established a correlation between the number of MS constituent risk factors and the intima-media thickness (r=0.31). Conclusions. MS has a major prevalence in population, this syndrome is linked to a high risk of carotid atheromatosis and ischemic stroke, it is recommended to screen MS in the population, especially in the group of obese, diabetic and hypertensive patients for the early prevention measures activities of vascular complications.