Carotid Artery Disease

About
Diagnosis
Treatment

Diagnosis

First your physician conducts a physical exam. During your exam, your physician will listen for sounds of turbulent blood flow in your carotid arteries. He or she may also measure your blood pressure. If your physician suspects you have carotid artery disease, a carotid duplex ultrasound study will be ordered. In this painless test, a technician holds a small ultrasound probe to your neck. The probe emits high-frequency sound waves that bounce off of blood cells and blood vessels to show blood flow and problems with the structure of blood vessels. This test can show your physician how open your carotid arteries are and how quickly blood flows through them. Carotid duplex ultrasound detects most cases of carotid disease. However, if ultrasound does not provide enough information, your physician may order  an Angiogram, a CT Angiography (CTA) exam or a Magnetic Resonance Angiograpy (MRA). 

Contact NCTVI

Northern California Thoracic and Vascular Institute Clinic

5 Medical Plaza, Suite 140
Roseville, CA 95661

Phone (916) 783-8114

Fax (916) 783-8166

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Interventional Neuroradiology Clinic

2801 K Street, Suite 240
Sacramento, CA 95816

Phone (916) 925-9526

Fax (916) 925-9515

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Our Specialists

Larry Cardoza, M.D.

Vascular Surgeon

Dr. Larry J. Cardoza is a board certified Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon with more than 30 years of experience. A native of Sacramento, Dr. Cardoza earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, San Francisco in 1966. After completing his internship at San Francisco General Hospital he served for three years as a US Air Force Flight Surgeon. He then completed a residency in General Surgery at Highland General Hospital in Oakland, California and went on to complete a residency in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After practicing in Salinas, California, Dr. Cardoza moved back to Sacramento and has been in practice here for 20 years. He joined RAS in 2008 with a vision to provide quality integrated Thoracic and Vascular Surgery services through one entity - the RAS Northern California Thoracic and Vascular Institute. In his free time, Dr. Cardoza enjoys golfing and travel.

Lotfi Hacein-Bey, M.D.

Bahram Varjavand, M.D., Ph.D.