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• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

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• Clinical Trials
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Summary

Your carotid arteries are two large blood vessels in your neck. They supply your brain and head with blood. If you have carotid artery disease, the arteries become narrow or blocked, usually because of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the buildup of plaque, which is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood.

Carotid artery disease is serious because it can block the blood flow to your brain, causing a stroke. Too much plaque in the artery can cause a blockage. You can also have a blockage when a piece of plaque or a blood clot breaks off the wall of an artery. The plaque or clot can travel through the bloodstream and get stuck in one of your brain's smaller arteries.

Carotid artery disease often does not cause symptoms until the blockage or narrowing is severe. One sign may be a bruit (whooshing sound) that your doctor hears when listening to your artery with a stethoscope. Another sign is a transient ischemic attack (TIA), a "mini-stroke." A TIA is like a stroke, but it only lasts a few minutes, and the symptoms usually go away within an hour. Stroke is another sign.

Imaging tests can confirm whether you have carotid artery disease.

Treatments may include:

• Healthy lifestyle changes
• Medicines
• Carotid endarterectomy, surgery to remove the plaque
• Angioplasty, a procedure to place a balloon and stent into the artery to open it and hold it open

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Start Here

• Carotid Artery Disease (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Carotid Artery Disease (Texas Heart Institute) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Stenosis: Screening (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force)
• Carotid Artery Screening (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish
• Carotid Ultrasound Imaging (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish
• Doppler Ultrasound (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• MR Angiography (MRA) (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Carotid Angioplasty and Stenting (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Specifics

• What Is Atherosclerosis? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish

Images

• Carotid artery surgery - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Carotid Artery Diseases (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Carotid Stenosis (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Endarterectomy, Carotid (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Exosomal miR-155-5p promote the occurrence of carotid atherosclerosis.
• Article: Glucose-lowering medications and glucose levels as the major determinants of progression...
• Article: Exposure to air pollutants and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis measured by magnetic...
• Carotid Artery Disease -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American Stroke Association
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Angioplasty and stent placement - carotid artery (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Carotid artery disease (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Carotid artery stenosis - self-care (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Carotid artery surgery - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Carotid artery surgery - open (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Carotid duplex (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish