Carotid artery has plaque, who is the culprit? How to treat it?

First of all, what disease is carotid plaque? The neck, that is, the neck and artery, is a thick blood vessel connecting the left ventricle of the heart. Everyone knows that the left ventricle is used to supply blood to various tissues and organs of the body. A large amount of fresh blood gushing from the aorta can flow upward into the head through the carotid artery, which can be said to be the only way to nourish the brain. Just like the ancient Silk Road, without it, communication between East and West would be impossible. So if this big blood vessel is blocked by accumulated fat, It is easy to cause the blood supply in the front and middle hemispheres of the brain to stop, and eventually form hemiplegia and disability.

In fact, carotid plaque is a precursor to cerebral infarction. Plaque is the so-called atherosclerotic change. In order not to develop into a stroke, we must pay attention to carotid plaque.

Secondly, let's talk about the classification of carotid plaque, which is divided into three categories.

1. plaque 2. Hard board three. Mixed plaque. But sometimes it can be divided into three degrees of stenosis according to the degree of vascular stenosis: light, medium and heavy. Mild generally means that the vascular blockage is less than 50% of half a child's, and moderate means that the blockage is 50%-70%. Severe stenosis means that most of them are blocked, exceeding 70%.

Thirdly, how to be alert to the occurrence of carotid plaque in daily life?

First of all, people with carotid plaque generally have no symptoms, and only a few people will have symptoms. If you find that your face is numb and your arm is weak. Both thighs feel different, or one eye looks black. If you have invisible vision or even complete blindness, it proves to a great extent that there is plaque on one side of your carotid artery.

amaurosis

Fourth, treatment: Since there is carotid plaque, how to treat it? I summed up four methods.

First, life intervention

Second, medication.

Third, surgical resection.

Fourthly, arterial stent and arterial stent formation.

With so many methods, how should everyone choose? Is to look at the degree of carotid stenosis.

When the carotid plaque shrinks to more than 50%-70%, it can be said that it is quite serious stenosis. At this time, there may be symptoms such as limb weakness, numbness, abnormal sensation and hemianopia that I just mentioned above. So for such people, as long as there are no contraindications. It is certain to take atorvastatin, aspirin and other anti-platelet aggregation drugs.

In addition, for patients with stenosis over 70% and very serious symptoms, surgery is the first choice. The specific surgical method should be decided by consulting a brain surgeon.

Having said that, let me talk about the most common group of people in our clinic. It is a carotid plaque with a low degree of stenosis, less than 50%. At this time, we will generally consider using statins to stabilize the plaque, prevent the plaque from falling off, and prevent the fallen plaque from blocking small blood vessels and forming embolism. Generally speaking, for soft plaque, our doctor will give statins to stabilize the plaque. For the mixed type, statins should also be taken orally in order to turn soft plaque into hard plaque and make it less harmful.

The last case is the treatment of hard plaque. We usually evaluate its risk level first. If the hard plaque is complicated with hyperglycemia, you should also take statins. What is the only situation where you can't take medicine? That is, risk stratification belongs to low risk. The intervention of healthy lifestyle can reverse the state of vascular plaque.