A new test based on ultrasound scans may be able to spot people at high risk of a stroke, though it is still too early to be excited, researchers said. Nearly 800,000 people suffer strokes each year in the United States alone, with about a sixth of them dying of it and many more left disabled. The study, though, is able to separate people who have clogged neck, or carotid, arteries into those who are relatively likely to suffer a stroke and those who aren’t -- which may help decide who would benefit from a controversial surgery in which doctors clean out cholesterol buildups blocking the artery.
