What Is a Carotid Screening? A Tech Explains What We’re Looking For

If you've never had a carotid ultrasound, you may be wondering what exactly we're looking at when we put that ultrasound probe on your neck.

The carotid arteries are the large blood vessels on either side of your neck that carry blood toward your brain.

As an ultrasound technologist who has worked in vascular imaging for more than 20 years, I've spent a lot of time looking at these vessels.

So what am I actually doing?

When I perform a carotid screening, I put some ultrasound gel on your neck and use a small handheld probe to look at the arteries underneath your skin.

There's no needle. There's no radiation. And there's nothing painful about the ultrasound itself.

I'm looking at the walls of the arteries and the blood flowing through them.

One of the things I may see is plaque, which is a buildup along the inside of an artery. Depending on what is seen during the screening, the results may indicate that you should discuss them with your healthcare provider.

Why would you want to have this checked?

One of the tricky things about vascular disease is that you don't always know it's there.

Someone can feel completely fine and still have changes in their blood vessels.

That's one of the reasons I believe screening can be valuable.

It isn't about telling you that something is wrong. It's about taking a look and giving you information that you may not otherwise have.

If something concerning is identified, you have an opportunity to take that information to your doctor and find out what, if anything, needs to happen next.

Why do this at work?

This is a big part of why I created ForgedWell.

I've spent more than 20 years working around vascular surgery and vascular patients, and I've seen how easy it is for people to put their own healthcare on the back burner.

Especially people who work long hours, rotating shifts, physically demanding jobs, or jobs where taking time off isn't easy.

So instead of asking you to find another appointment, drive somewhere else, and fit one more thing into your schedule, we come to you.

You take a little time during your workday, and we do the screening right there.

It doesn't replace your regular doctor or your routine healthcare. It simply makes getting checked a little easier.

And sometimes making it easier is what finally gets someone to do it.