Graduate School, Hebei Medical University; Department of Neurology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050051, China.
Department of Neurology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050051, China.
Chin Med J (Engl). 2017 Oct 5;130(19):2375-2379. doi: 10.4103/0366-6999.215331.
As a vascular risk factor, carotid atherosclerosis is crucial to cognitive impairment. While carotid intima-media thickness, carotid artery plaque, and carotid stenosis can reflect carotid atherosclerosis in different stages, this review aimed to explore researches on the role of carotid intima-media thickness, carotid artery plaque, and carotid stenosis in the progress of cognitive impairment in nonstroke patients and tried to illustrate the possible mechanisms.
We searched the PubMed database for recently published research articles up to July 2017, with the key words of "carotid atherosclerosis," "carotid intima-media thickness," "carotid plaque," "carotid stenosis," "nonstroke," and "cognitive impairment."
Articles were obtained and reviewed to analyze the role of carotid atherosclerosis such as carotid intima-thickness, carotid plaque, and carotid stenosis in the progress of cognitive impairment in nonstroke patients and the possible mechanisms.
In recent years, most studies proved that by evaluating carotid atherosclerosis with ultrasonography, carotid atherosclerosis accounts for the development of cognitive decline in nonstroke patients. Carotid atherosclerosis not only impairs the subtle general cognitive function but also decreases the specific domains of cognitive function, such as memory, motor function, visual perception, attention, and executive function. But, it is still controversial. The possible mechanisms of cognitive impairment in nonstroke patients with carotid atherosclerosis can be classified as systemic global cerebrovascular function, small-vessel diseases, and the mixed lesions.
Carotid atherosclerosis can be used to predict the risk of cognitive impairment. Furthermore, diagnosing and treating carotid atherosclerosis at early stage might help clinicians prevent and treat vascular cognitive impairment in nonstroke patients.
颈动脉粥样硬化作为一种血管危险因素，与认知障碍密切相关。虽然颈动脉内膜中层厚度、颈动脉斑块和颈动脉狭窄可以反映不同阶段的颈动脉粥样硬化，但本综述旨在探讨颈动脉内膜中层厚度、颈动脉斑块和颈动脉狭窄在非卒患者认知障碍进展中的作用，并试图阐明其可能的机制。
我们检索了 PubMed 数据库中截至 2017 年 7 月发表的最新研究文章，关键词为“颈动脉粥样硬化”、“颈动脉内膜中层厚度”、“颈动脉斑块”、“颈动脉狭窄”、“非卒”和“认知障碍”。
获取并回顾了这些文章，以分析颈动脉粥样硬化（如颈动脉内膜厚度、颈动脉斑块和颈动脉狭窄）在非卒患者认知障碍进展中的作用及其可能的机制。
近年来，大多数研究都证实，通过超声评估颈动脉粥样硬化，颈动脉粥样硬化与非卒患者认知能力下降的发展有关。颈动脉粥样硬化不仅损害了细微的整体认知功能，而且降低了特定认知功能领域，如记忆、运动功能、视觉感知、注意力和执行功能。但这仍然存在争议。非卒患者颈动脉粥样硬化认知障碍的可能机制可分为系统性全脑血管功能、小血管疾病和混合病变。
颈动脉粥样硬化可用于预测认知障碍的风险。此外，早期诊断和治疗颈动脉粥样硬化可能有助于临床医生预防和治疗非卒患者的血管性认知障碍。
