Carotid artery disease involves a narrowing of the carotid arteries due to built- up plaque along the inside walls of the arteries. It is a type of peripheral arterial disease in which there is “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis) in the main arteries carrying oxygen-rich blood to the brain (the carotid arteries). People with this disease are at much higher risk of having an ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke.
“To date, the focus of diagnosis and management of carotid artery blockages has been prevention of stroke since that was the only harm that these blockages were thought to cause to patients,” said Dr. Brajesh Lal, of the Baltimore VA Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
But the new research found that a carotid artery that starts to narrow may be an early warning of memory and mental decline.
In conducting the study, researchers compared the learning and memory skills of 67 patients with 50% reduction in the diameter of the carotid artery to 60 patients with normal blood flow through the carotid vessel. They found patients with carotid blockage performed much worse on the thinking tests. They also scored lower on motor and processing speed evaluations as well as learning and memory tests. However, language scores did not differ between the two groups.
“These results underscore the importance of assessing the status of memory and thinking in people with carotid artery narrowing,” Lal added.
“If these findings are confirmed in larger studies, they hold significant implications for new treatment targets and open the door for more questions such as: should these patients be treated more aggressively with medications, cognitive rehabilitation, or even surgery to open up the artery,” Lal said in the association news release.
The study is to be presented Wednesday at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting in Philadelphia.
The risk factors for carotid artery disease are similar to those for coronary artery disease – atherosclerosis of the main arteries carrying oxygen-rich blood to the heart (the coronary arteries). Therefore, people with one condition often have the other, as well. Risk factors for both that can be modified include the following:
*Smoking
*Lack of regular exercise
*Eating a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet
*Obesity (more than 20 percent over one’s ideal weight)
*Uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension
*Uncontrolled stress and anger
*High LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels and low HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels.
“To date, the focus of diagnosis and management of carotid artery blockages has been prevention of stroke since that was the only harm that these blockages were thought to cause to patients,” said Dr. Brajesh Lal, of the Baltimore VA Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
But the new research found that a carotid artery that starts to narrow may be an early warning of memory and mental decline.
In conducting the study, researchers compared the learning and memory skills of 67 patients with 50% reduction in the diameter of the carotid artery to 60 patients with normal blood flow through the carotid vessel. They found patients with carotid blockage performed much worse on the thinking tests. They also scored lower on motor and processing speed evaluations as well as learning and memory tests. However, language scores did not differ between the two groups.
“These results underscore the importance of assessing the status of memory and thinking in people with carotid artery narrowing,” Lal added.
“If these findings are confirmed in larger studies, they hold significant implications for new treatment targets and open the door for more questions such as: should these patients be treated more aggressively with medications, cognitive rehabilitation, or even surgery to open up the artery,” Lal said in the association news release.
The study is to be presented Wednesday at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting in Philadelphia.
The risk factors for carotid artery disease are similar to those for coronary artery disease – atherosclerosis of the main arteries carrying oxygen-rich blood to the heart (the coronary arteries). Therefore, people with one condition often have the other, as well. Risk factors for both that can be modified include the following:
*Smoking
*Lack of regular exercise
*Eating a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet
*Obesity (more than 20 percent over one’s ideal weight)
*Uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension
*Uncontrolled stress and anger
*High LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels and low HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels.
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