Introduction: Carotid stenosis has been reported as being associated to lacunar infarcts (LI) with variable frequency, but the aetiopathogenic relation between them is still subject to some controversy.
Aims: Our aim was to describe the prevalence of carotid disorders in a neurosonological study of a sample of patients with LI.
Patients and methods: We analysed the results of the neurosonological study conducted on patients with clinical-radiological criteria of LI who were admitted to our Stroke Unit during the period of study.
Results: We studied 140 patients, and results were normal in only 42% of the cases. Stenosis > 50% was found in 10% of the cases and plaque without stenosis in 40.3% of the patients. In patients without plaque there was an increase in the tunica intima-media thickness in 7.2% of the cases.
Conclusion: In most of the patients with LI there were anomalies in the study of the carotid performed using ultrasound scanning.