Impact of Lifestyle-Related Diseases on Carotid Arterial Wall Elasticity as Evaluated by an Ultrasonic Phased-Tracking Method in Japanese Subjects

Abstract

Aim:We investigated the relationship between coronary risk factors and the intima-media thickness (IMT) and wall elasticity of carotid arteries. A new real-time ultrasonic measurement system that allows measurement of the elasticity of the carotid arterial intima-media complex was applied to 350 subjects, who were also checked for the presence/absence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus and regular smoking. Simultaneous measurement of the elastic modulus and IMT was conducted at four sites in the bilateral carotid arteries.

Increased Atherosclerosis Correlates with Subjective Tinnitus Severity

“…IMT is used as a criterion for atherosclerosis [8,9]. Increased IMT detected by ultrasound reflects morphological changes including thickening and calcification of carotid artery [17]. Increased IMT is considered as an indicator of increased risk for myocardial infarction and stroke [9,18].…”

Evaluation of Plaque Stabilization by Fluvastatin with Carotid Intima- Medial Elasticity Measured by a Transcutaneous Ultrasonic-Based Tissue Characterization System

“…In contrast, our method enables the measurement of elasticity distribution in the intima-medial region by ultrasound and the evaluation of local (lesion) elastic properties by measuring mural thickness change. In a previous study, age, blood pressure and pulse rate were shown to be independent determinants of the average values E of elasticity distribution 15) . In the present study, an elasticity library with transcutaneous ultrasound was obtained by observing various tissues of the carotid arterial wall (Fig.…”

“…An imaging study of the bilateral common carotid arteries was performed using a newly developed high-resolution ultrasonic measurement system (Panasonic, prototype) with a center frequency of 7.5 MHz. One well-trained sonographer who regularly participates in quality control measurement sessions performed all ultrasound scans 13,15) . The sonographer has been trained to obtain an elastic modulus measurement deviation of only 6% in the same subject (inter-and intra-variations were less than 10% at our institution).…”

“…Conventional evaluations are based on the tion of lipids, blood clots, fibrous tissue and calcified tissue in vitro have been reported previously, and an elasticity image can be classified into tissue components using the reference data obtained by in vitro experiments 16) . The usefulness of measuring the elastic modulus of the common carotid arteries (CCAs) by ultrasound imaging to detect early-stage atherosclerotic lesions caused by risk factors with regard to lifestyle-related disease has also been reported 15) . The aim of the present study was to evaluate and classify in vivo carotid plaque tissues in terms of arterial wall elasticity using this novel real-time ultrasonic measurement system rather than conventional methods.…”

The Use of Plaque Score Measurements to Assess Changes in Atherosclerotic Plaque Burden Induced by Lipid-Lowering Therapy Over Time: The METEOR Study

“…As for CIMT, the presence of atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery has consistently been associated with cardiovascular risk factors and with prevalent and incident vascular events [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . Moreover, measurement of changes in plaque volume may be of value in assessing changes in atherosclerotic burden over time, as some studies have found a stronger association with vascular events for plaques than for CIMT 4,5,7,11,13) .…”