Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, so adequate prevention strategies are crucial. However, current stroke risk stratification is based on epidemiologic studies and is still suboptimal for individual patients. The aim of this systematic review was to provide a literature overview on the feasibility and diagnostic value of vascular shear wave elastography (SWE) using ultrasound (US) in (mimicked) human and non-human arteries affected by different stages of atherosclerotic diseases or diseases related to atherosclerosis. An online search was conducted on Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science and IEEE databases to identify studies using US SWE for the assessment of vascular elasticity. A quality assessment was performed using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) checklist, and relevant data were extracted. A total of 19 studies were included: 10 with human patients and 9 with non-human subjects (i.e., [excised] animal arteries and polyvinyl alcohol phantoms). All studies revealed the feasibility of using US SWE to assess individually stiffness of the arterial wall and plaques. Quantitative elasticity values were highly variable between studies. However, within studies, SWE could detect statistically significant elasticity differences in patient/subject characteristics and could distinguish different plaque types with good reproducibility. US SWE, with its unique ability to assess the elasticity of the vessel wall and plaque throughout the cardiac cycle, might be a good candidate to improve stroke risk stratification. However, more clinical studies have to be performed to assess this technique's exact clinical value.

缺血性中风是全球死亡和残疾的主要原因，因此适当的预防策略至关重要。然而，目前的卒中风险分层是基于流行病学研究，对于个体患者仍然不是最理想的。本系统综述的目的是提供关于使用超声 (US) 的血管剪切波弹性成像 (SWE) 在受动脉粥样硬化疾病或疾病不同阶段影响的（模拟）人类和非人类动脉中的可行性和诊断价值的文献概述。与动脉粥样硬化有关。在 Pubmed、Embase、Web of Science 和 IEEE 数据库上进行了在线搜索，以确定使用 US SWE 评估血管弹性的研究。使用诊断准确性研究质量评估 2 (QUADAS-2) 清单进行质量评估，并提取了相关数据。共纳入 19 项研究：10 项针对人类患者，9 项针对非人类受试者（即， [切除] 动物动脉和聚乙烯醇幻影）。所有研究都揭示了使用 US SWE 单独评估动脉壁和斑块硬度的可行性。研究之间的数量弹性值变化很大。然而，在研究中，SWE 可以检测出患者/受试者特征的统计学上显着的弹性差异，并且可以以良好的重现性区分不同的斑块类型。US SWE 具有在整个心动周期中评估血管壁和斑块弹性的独特能力，可能是改善卒中风险分层的良好候选者。然而，必须进行更多的临床研究来评估该技术的确切临床价值。