Noninvasive measurement of medium-sized artery intima-media thickness in humans: in vitro validation.
Recent research in ultrasound technology has led to the development of a high-resolution echo-tracking device. The present study was performed to evaluate the accuracy in the measurement of human radial artery intima-media thickness with this new device. We determined the correlation between histological and ultrasonic measurements of intima-media thickness in 15 radial artery segments obtained from the distal end of the wrist-elbow harvest for coronary bypass grafting in patients with coronary heart disease. For arterial intima-media thickness, a positive correlation was observed between ultrasonic and histological measurements (r = 0.618; p < 0.014), and the difference between ultrasound and histology measurements was 41 +/- 66 microns, with the higher measurements found by the ultrasonic device. In a subgroup of 11 patients, we determined the correlation between in vivo ultrasonic measurements of radial artery intima-media thickness at the preoperative stage and in vitro ultrasonic measurements of intima-media thickness obtained postoperatively in the same arterial segments. Internal diameter was larger in vivo than in vitro, and intima-media thickness was smaller in vivo than in vitro. The cross-sectional area of the arterial wall was calculated from internal diameter and intima-media thickness. In vitro wall cross-sectional area was correlated with in vivo wall cross-sectional area (r = 0.929; p < 0.0001). Repeatability of in vivo intima-media thickness measurements was investigated in 10 subjects through the calculation of the repeatability coefficient as defined by the British Standards Institution.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Girerd
X
X
Department of Internal Medicine, Broussais Hospital, Paris, France.
Mourad
J J
JJ
Acar
C
C
Heudes
D
D
Chiche
S
S
Bruneval
P
P
Mignot
J P
JP
Billaud
E
E
Safar
M
M
Laurent
S
S
D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008875:Middle Aged; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation*