Interventional intra-arterial ultrasonography as an exclusive method of exploration to determine atherosclerotic lesions of the arterial wall at a preclinical stage.
Intravascular ultrasonography of the peripheral arterial system was applied following coronarography in 56 patients with one or several critical stenoses of the coronary arteries. Even though the clinical vascular examination and the subsequent noninvasive examination of the peripheral arterial system of all these patients turned out to be completely normal, intra-arterial ultrasonography was able to reveal important atherosclerotic alterations in the wall of the abdominal aorta and of the iliac-femoral arterial system in 51 of these patients. Intra-arterial ultrasonography appears to be a very sensitive method of exploration, permitting atherosclerotic changes of the arterial wall to be detected at a very early preclinical stage, long before these deviations could have caused symptoms.
Claessens
J
J
Department of Cardiology, St. Jozef Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium.
Haseldonckx
C
C
D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001158:Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007083:Iliac Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging