Validation of in vivo noninvasive high-frequency ultrasonography of the arterial wall layers

To validate estimates of the arterial wall thickness and its separate layer s, 19 superficial (7 femoral and 12 cutaneous) arteries were transcutaneous ly sonographed in 13 anaesthetized pigs with a high-resolution equipment fi tted with a 25 MHz frequency probe. Means of ultrasonographic estimates of each wall layer were compared with those obtained from microscopy of the re spective arterial specimens taken after the pigs were sacrificed. For all v essels combined, Spearman-rank correlation tests between ultrasonography an d histology estimates were significant for total arterial wall thickness (r (s) = 0.78; p =.0001) but not for the separate layers, For the cutaneous ar teries, a significant correlation was found for total arterial wall thickne ss (r(s)= 0.69; p =.01) and media layer (r(s) = 0.76; p = .004), The method seems to give valid estimates of both total arterial wall and media thickn ess in superficial arteries, but to be less accurate for estimate the adven titia and intima Layers. (C) 2001 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medici ne & Biology.