ATHEROSCLEROTIC CHANGES IN THE CAROTID-ARTERY BULB AS MEASURED BY B-MODE ULTRASOUND ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE EXTENT OF CORONARY ATHEROSCLEROSIS

Background and Purpose Ultrasound is increasingly used to measure athe rosclerotic development in carotid and femoral arteries. The aim of th is study was to investigate the relationship between coronary atherosc lerosis as measured by quantitative angiography and peripheral atheros clerosis as measured by ultrasound in three different arterial regions . Methods Patients (n=32) with at least two coronary segments with vis ible signs of atherosclerosis as defined in a computer-assisted analys is of coronary angiograms were also examined with B-mode ultrasound. T he extent of coronary atherosclerosis was expressed as the average dia meter stenosis of coronary segments, and peripheral atherosclerosis wa s defined as intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaque occurrence in the common carotid artery, the carotid bulb, and the common femoral arter y. Results The results showed a significant correlation between the ul trasound measurement of IMT of the carotid bulb and diameter stenosis of the included coronary segments (r=.68, P=.01) and of carotid plaque s and diameter stenosis (P<.001). The correlation between common carot id IMT and diameter stenosis of included coronary segments was not sta tistically significant (r=.31, NS). There were no significant relation ships between common femoral IMT or femoral plaques and diameter steno sis of included coronary segments. Conclusions Although this study is small, it points to a very important aspect of ultrasound measurements of atherosclerosis: measurements performed in the common carotid arte ry or the femoral artery may not relate to coronary atherosclerosis in the same way as measurements performed in the carotid bulb. The findi ngs underline the importance of measuring IMT not only in the common c arotid artery but also in the carotid bulb and present data separately . These results have to be confirmed in a larger-scale study.