Blood Samples and Nutritional Indexes
Hematological and biochemical tests were conducted on the venous blood samples obtained from each patient immediately before routine carotid angiography. Determination of the counts and types of shaped elements of blood was performed for each patient using an automated hematological analyzer (Abbott Cell-Dyn 3700; Abbott Laboratory, Abbott Park, Illinois, USA). Biochemical measurements were performed using the standard methods. The CONUT score is calculated based on three parameters: serum albumin level, total cholesterol level, and total lymphocyte count (Table 1). Patients were divided into two groups according to the CONUT score: (i) normal nutrition (<2) and (ii) malnutrition (≥2). Prognostic nutritional index (PNI) was calculated using the following formula: 10 x serum albumin value (g/dL) + 0.005 x total lymphocyte count in the peripheral blood (per mm3). Patients were divided into two groups based on a PNI cutoff value of 40: (i) low PNI (≤40) and (ii) high PNI (>40).