Carotid bruit

A greater risk of heart attack and cardiovascular death is found among the people with carotid bruit. This has been published in The Lancet, in an article related to cardiovascular health. When the blood has to pass over an obstacle in the carotid artery, it makes a sound and this sound is called carotid bruit. Carotid artery supplies blood to the head and neck. Generally, this sound (bruit) is easily detected with a stethoscope and it indicates arterial blockage.

In past, these carotid bruits were related to bleeding events in the brain but yet it has not been confirmed that these bruits indicate bleeding events in the brain.

Times higher risk of death

By assessing the existing research associated to carotid bruits, Dr. Christopher Pickett and team made an analysis and they investigated 22 studies with 17,295 patients who were examined about fours years on average. The researchers noted that the existence of a carotid bruit in patients doubled the risk of heart attack and it was almost half in those that were without a bruit. Further, the patients with carotid bruits had 2.5 times higher risk of death due to some cardiovascular disease. In four other studies, that included this meta-analysis, patients with and without bruits were compared and the results were found quite similar.

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