PhD defence K. (Kristīne) Dilba

Dissertation in short:

The aim of this thesis was to study the vessel wall structure and fluid dynamics in carotid artery disease using non-invasive imaging techniques for a better understanding of the
pathophysiology in order to link carotid artery disease to neurologic symptoms. The carotid artery diseases covered in this thesis are atherosclerosis, webs and dolichoarteriopathy.

In this thesis I mostly used imaging data acquired from The Plaque At RISK study (PARISK) that included patients with carotid lumen stenosis of 30-69% using non-invasive imaging
techniques. Patients underwent computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound of their carotid arteries, MRI brain, and transcranial doppler at baseline
and after 2 years of follow-up. I focused mainly on CT and MRI imaging to expand knowledge on the potential role of these imaging modalities for the assessment of imaging biomarkers
of carotid plaque rupture. MRI is a superior imaging modality to examen plaque composition due to its excellent soft tissue contrast. CT, however, allows to investigate the plaque surface
morphology in very much detail due to its excellent spatial resolution. Furthermore, CT provides accurate information about lumen shape and calcium geometry.