Are cerebral white matter hyperintense lesions associated with unstable carotid plaques?
The observed association between unstable carotid plaques and the number of white matter lesions suggest that thromboembolic plaque activity may contribute to the development of leukoaraiosis, in particular smaller individual lesions. Larger studies are warranted to confirm this finding and explore the potential clinical impact for selecting candidates for carotid endarterectomy.
Our results support a role for visfatin in the detection of subjects with many metabolic abnormalities, which result in increased CVD risk.