The Cooper Vascular Center

Carotid Artery Imaging

Carotid artery imaging is the most common vascular laboratory study. Improvements in technology have made this a convenient and rapid screening test for patients with cerebrovascular symptoms and for patients who are about to undergo major cardiovascular surgery. The common carotid, external carotid, internal carotid, and vertebral arteries are visualized in this study. The test shows the carotid arteries (vessels in the neck that provide blood flow to the brain), as well as how much blood flows and how fast it travels through them.

Your carotid arteries are normally smooth and unobstructed on the inside, but as you age, a sticky substance called plaque can build up in the walls of your arteries. Plaque is made up of cholesterol, calcium, and fibrous tissue. As more plaque builds up, your arteries narrow and stiffen. This process is called atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Eventually, when enough plaque builds up to reduce or disturb blood flow through your carotid arteries, physicians call this problem carotid artery disease.

How a Carotid Artery Diagnostic Test Works

A carotid artery duplex scan is a type of vascular ultrasound study performed to assess the blood flow of the carotid arteries. A carotid artery duplex scan is a noninvasive (the skin is not pierced) procedure. An ultrasound is something like the sonar used in ships at sea or airplanes and dolphins. As sound waves bounce off objects or organs, they can show location, size, and shape of the organ. The equipment consists of::

• a transducer, which is a small hand-held device that looks like a microphone
• a screen to view the images that is like a television or computer monitor

Liquid jelly is used on the transducer and your skin to help transmit the sound waves. The transducer both sends the sound waves and records the echoes. A computer helps translate the echoes into images. These pictures can be recorded both as video and as still pictures (images). When the transducer (like a microphone) is placed on the carotid arteries at certain locations and angles, the ultrasonic sound waves move through the skin and other body tissues to the blood vessels. Absence or faintness of these sounds may indicate an obstruction or blockage to the blood flow.