Table 1.
Data of Main Studies of Aortic Arch Atheroma in Stroke Patients or Patients Undergoing Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE) Published in the Literature
| Studies | Population | Definition of Complex Plaque | N(Cases/Controls) | Association with Clinical Events After Adjustement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Post-Mortem | ||||
| Amarenco et al. [21] | Neuologic disease | Ulcerated plaque | 500 | Yes |
| Khatibzadeh et al. [22] | Unselected | Ulceration, mural thrombus | 120 | Yes |
| Case Series | ||||
| Tunick and Kronzon[18] | TIA or stroke | Mobile | 3 | ... |
| Davila-Roman et al. [9] | Cardiac surgery | > 4 mm, ulceration, mobile | 1.200 | Yes |
| Pop et al. [23] | TIA or stroke | Descriptive | 72 | ... |
| Fasseas et al. [24] | Stroke | > 4 mm, ulceration, mobile | 64 | ... |
| Toyoda et al. [25] | Embolic stroke | > 3 mm, irregular | 62 | ... |
| Horowitz et al. [26] | TIA or stroke | Mobile | 183 | ... |
| Mitush et al. [31] | Unselected TEE | > 5 mm, mobile | 375 | Yes |
| Retrospective Case-Control Studies | ||||
| Tunick et al. [27] | Stroke or embolism | > 5 mm | 244 (122 / 122) | Yes |
| Di Tullio [29] | Stroke | > 5 mm, ulcerated or mobile | 220 | ... |
| Di Tullio [30] | Stroke | > 5 mm, ulcerated or mobile | 304 (152 / 152) | Yes |
| Stone et al. [32] | Stroke | > 2 mm or ulcerated | 106 (49 / 57) | ... |
| Nakayama et al. [34] | Stroke | Protruding, ulceration | 80 (45 / 35) | ... |
| Matsumura et al. [33] | Stroke | > 4 mm, mobile | 451 (50 / 401) | ... |
| Kazui et al. [38] | Stroke | > 5 mm | 264 (62 / 202) | Yes |
| Prospective Case-Control Studies | ||||
| Jones et al. [28] | TIA or stroke | > 5 mm, ulcerated or mobile | 417 (215 / 202) | Yes |
| Amarenco et al. [46] | Stroke | > 4 mm, ulcerated or mobile | 500 (250 / 250) | Yes |
| Prospective Follow-Up Studies | ||||
| Ferrari et al. [37] | Unselected TEE | > 4 mm, mobile | 129 | Yes |
| Tunick et al. [47] | Unselected TEE | > 5 mm | 84 (42 / 42) | Yes |
| FAPS group [49] | Stroke | > 4 mm | 331 (45 / 286) | Yes |
| Mitush et al. [48] | Unselected TEE | > 5 mm, mobile | 183 (47 / 136) | Yes |
| Pujadas et al. [53] | Stroke unknown cause | > 4 mm, mobile | 350 (248 / 102) | |
TIA: transient ischemic attack.