Hemorrhage in Carotid Plaque Is Not a Predictive Marker of New Cardiovascular Events in Asymptomatic IndividualsFA High-Resolution MRI Study

Jianming Cai¹, Qingjun Wang¹, Lin Ma¹, Youquan Cai¹, Qian Zhao¹

By using high-resolution MRI, we investigated prospectively whether hemorrhage in carotid plaque predicts future new cardiovascular events in asymptomatic individuals. Every subject in the present cohort study was given consecutive pre and post contrast-enhanced MRI examinations every 6-9 months and followed up for new cardiovascular events. Our results indicate that no correlation could be established between intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) and new cardiovascular events. It suggests that carotid IPH can not help to identify patients at risk for future cardiovascular events.