Carotid Artery Doppler / Please Help Me Read This...

[Peacemkr]

My Carotid Artery Duplex Doppler Study reports that I have mild plaquing throughout the common and internal carotid artery with some mild obstruction and tortuosity on the right side. The left side shows mild plaquing at the takeoff of the internal carotid artery without significant obstruction. It goes on to say under the Right Side: Common : .89 Internal: 1.37 External: 1.27 ICC/CAA S Ratio: 1.50 Vertebral: Antegrade and under the Left Side: Common: 1.02 Internal: 1.43 External: 1.31 ICC/CAA S Ration: 1.40 Vertebral: Antegrade. The reason that the doctor had the study done was because of my symptoms. Feeling faint, blurry vision, headaches and the "swooshing" in my ears. After the study was done I received a letter from the doctor saying that everything was fine. I went and picked up the results of the study and it just doesn't look all that fine to me. Should I get a second opinion?

[Peacemkr]

Thank you for the reply. My blood pressure has always been really low, so low in fact that it caused me problems when I was younger. Now it has evened out and runs about 100/62. I don't know if you read some of my other posts or not, but I have been searching for the answer to my symptoms for quite some time. I have had headaches, classified as migraines, for years and have been on medication. Every time I get up, or sometimes when I am just lying down or walking around I feel like someone is strangeling me. The pressure gets so intense sometimes that I feel pressure behind my eyes. I have blurry vision that comes and goes through out the day. Pain and a burning sensation in the veins in both my arms. And other odd things that are just driving me crazy. I had surgery in November to repair a ruptured disc and a herniated disc in my neck and I thought for sure that it was going to solve all of my problems, but it didn't. I just want to cover everything. I am very concerned about my vision. I don't want to loose my eyesight for sure.

[ed34]

I think Carotid artery problems have been ruled out as a cause of the problems you are having.  Mild plaque is nothing at all to worry about, blood flow is still not hindered enough by a long shot to cause your symptoms. I know someone with 62% blockages in the left and 50% in the right with no symptoms at all. If you have symptoms and it is shown to be caused by plaque in the carotid arteries, they would try you on medication first, and if this failed, they would open the arteries, scrape out the plaque, and repair the arteries.
Just as a matter of interest, what is your blood pressure like?

[Peacemkr]

First off I just want to thank you for taking your time to respond. I did lab work the first day that I saw the doctor and they scheduled the doppler about a week later. All of my lab work came back great. My cholesterol was perfect, both the good and bad, and he did not put me on any medication. I am on medication for my arthritis, thyroid and migraines.

[kenkeith]

I don't have a cross reference the doppler report.  Did the doctor tell you the underlying cause of symptoms?  Are you on medication?