Number of unstable carotid plaques

Method

Count of carotid plaques classified as echolucent, heterogeneous or irregular-surfaced on B-mode ultrasound of both carotid arteries. Stability criteria recorded on the edge.

The method is part of the endpoint identity. Studies measuring the same quantity by a different method are held as separate endpoints.

Notes

A tally of lesions meeting a morphology criterion, not a size measure. Will be confused with the summed plaque-height score, which weights each lesion by its size, and with carotid intima-media thickness, which measures smooth wall away from lesions. Morphological stability grading is markedly operator-dependent in a way that a wall dimension is not, so inter-rater reliability is a limitation specific to this node and should temper the grade on every edge built from it.