Predicting significant atherosclerosis of the carotid artery

In addition to the usual history and examination, a three-part noninvasive study has been used to evaluate patients for significant arteriosclerosis obliterans-extracranial at our institution. Of the patients having these tests during a 24-month period, 98 patients had a Doppler supraorbital flow examination, carotid phonoangiography, and oculopneumoplethysmography followed by extracranial cerebrovascular angiography. The initial interpretation of the noninvasive study and the arteriograms were reviewed retrospectively. Comparison of the initial and retrospective interpretation of the noninvasive studies and the arteriograms showed that most patients had multiple symptoms recorded and transient lateralizing symptoms did not correlate well with positive arteriograms, that neither a lesion of 50 per cent stenois or an ulcerative plaque (as expected) could be predicted, and that the corrected specificity and sensitivity for this small series were 75.3 percent and 95.2 percent, respectively.