In recent years, with the popularity of physical examination, some people have been detected with carotid atherosclerotic plaque, but because they feel no discomfort, they no longer care about it. This is unscientific.

The carotid atherosclerosis will gradually get worse. Mild carotid atherosclerosis usually causes no symptoms until arteries become narrowed or blocked, resulting in insufficient blood supply to organs and tissues.

When carotid atherosclerotic lesions occurred, will cause the luminal stenosis, even blocking or broken, so that the sharp decline in brain perfusion, luminal stenosis and plaques and thrombosis is easy to fall off, after falling off the line with blood into the brain blood vessels, leading to ischemic cerebrovascular disease and even permanent disability.

Therefore, carotid atherosclerosis can be divided into two categories: symptomatic and asymptomatic according to whether there are related symptoms of cerebral ischemia:

1. Symptomatic

(1) Transient ischemic attack (TIA) can be characterized by transient unilateral limb sensory and motor disturbances, blindness in one eye or aphasia, etc., which generally lasts only a few minutes and fully recovers within 24 hours after onset. There were no positive signs on physical examination and no focal lesions on imaging examination after the attack.

(2) The common clinical symptoms of ischemic stroke include sensory and/or motor impairment of one side of the limb, aphasia, and coma in severe cases. Physical examination may show neurological locational signs, and imaging examination may show focal lesions.

2. Asymptomatic

Many patients with carotid atherosclerotic disease have no neurological symptoms or only nonspecific symptoms, such as dizziness, headache and syncope.

So, how to evaluate which carotid atherosclerosis and plaque needs treatment, and how to prevent and treat it correctly? The Department of Neurology of JIH has set up a "carotid atherosclerosis and plaque clinic", which is referred to as "carotid plaque clinic".