Carotid Plaque Enhancement and Symptom Correlations: An Evaluation by Using Multidetector Row CT Angiography

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Fig 1.
A 67-year-old asymptomatic male patient. MDCT axial images before (A) and after (B) administration of contrast material. White arrows indicate the region of interest in the plaque. The red rectangle incorporates the region-of-interest area values, including area; and mean HU values, minimum and maximum.
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Fig 2.
Box-and-whisker plot between the observers for the region-of-interest area quantification.
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Fig 3.
Interobserver variability in the HU plaque enhancement.
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Fig 4.
ROC curve analysis between HU plaque enhancement and cerebrovascular symptoms.

Table 1:

ROC curve analysis

Criterion (HU value)	Sensitivity	95% CI	Specificity	95% CI	+LR	−LR
≥0	100.00	89.6–100.0	0.00	0.0–14.4	1.00	NC
>0	88.24	72.5–96.6	50.00	29.1–70.9	1.76	0.24
>9	88.24	72.5–96.6	58.33	36.7–77.9	2.12	0.20
>10	85.29	68.9–95.0	62.50	40.6–81.2	2.27	0.24
>12	82.35	65.5–93.2	66.67	44.7–84.3	2.47	0.26
>13	76.47	58.8–89.2	75.00	53.3–90.2	3.06	0.31
>15^a	76.47^a	58.8–89.2^a	83.33^a	62.6–95.2^a	4.59^a	0.28^a
>16	70.59	52.5–84.9	87.50	67.6–97.2	5.65	0.34
>17	67.65	49.5–82.6	87.50	67.6–97.2	5.41	0.37
>19	64.71	46.5–80.2	91.67	73.0–98.7	7.76	0.39
>24	20.59	8.7–37.9	91.67	73.0–98.7	2.47	0.87
>27	20.59	8.7–37.9	95.83	78.8–99.3	4.94	0.83
>30	14.71	5.0–31.1	95.83	78.8–99.3	3.53	0.89
>31	5.88	0.9–19.7	100.00	85.6–100.0	NC	0.94
>43	0.00	0.0–10.4	100.00	85.6–100.0	NC	1.00

Table 2:

Multiple logistic regression analysis

Independent Variable	Coefficient	Standard Error	t	P	R
CPE	0.01174	0.00613	1,914	.0315^a	0.532
Stenosis^b	0.2777	0.12916	2,15	.0366^a	0.409
Fatty plaque	0.28471	0.14919	1,908	.0423^a	0.449
Age (yr)	0.00115	0.00459	0.25	.8033	0.036
CAD	0.10472	0.11398	0.919	.3628	0.012
Hypertension	−0.24982	0.13419	−1.862	.0688	0.02
Dyslipidemia	0.10485	0.12331	0.85	.3993	0.053
Sex (male)	0.12585	0.13605	0.925	.3596	0.262
Current smoker	0.18822	0.12059	1.561	.1251	0.208