CAROTID ULTRASOUND EXAMINATION IN WILLIAMS-SYNDROME

Objective: To noninvasively measure arterial nail thickness in a group of patients with Williams syndrome (WS). Methods: High-resolution, re al-time B-mode ultrasonography was used to examine the carotid arterie s of 20 patients with WS (ages 7 months to 24.9 years) and 25 control subjects Cages 2.5 years to 25.5 years). Results: The mean combined in ternal-medial wall thickness of the patients in the WS group was 0.86 mm +/- 0.08 mm compared with a mean of 0.54 mm +/- 0.05 mm in the cont rol subjects (p < 0.0001). Within the WS group, arterial wall thicknes s did not vary significantly with gender, patient age, the presence or absence of stenotic cardiac disease, or the presence or absence of hy pertension.Conclusions: The ultrasonographic finding of increased caro tid arterial wall thickness across a wide range of patients with WS de monstrates the pervasive nature of the arteriopathy of this disorder. That increased arterial trail thickness was observed in all patients s tudied suggests that the arteriopathy of WS is related to haploinsuffi ciency for the elastin gene.