title: Common carotid artery intima-media thickness in patients with brain infarction and intracerebral haemorrhage.
abstract: An increase in the intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery (CCA-IMT) is generally considered as an early marker of atherosclerosis and has been associated with a higher risk of stroke and myocardial infarction. There is no evidence of an association between the IMT and cerebral bleeding. We investigated cross-sectionally the diagnostic ability of vascular risk factors, including CCA-IMT, to distinguish between brain infarction (BI) and intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). Patients suffering from BI (n = 126) had significantly (p < 0.05) higher CCA-IMT when compared to the ICH population (n = 30). The multinomial logistic regression procedure selected CCA-IMT as an independent factor able to discriminate between BI and ICH. The risk of BI versus ICH increased continuously with increasing CCA-IMT. After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors the odds ratio for BI per 0.1 mm CCA-IMT increase was 1.29 (95% CI: 1.03-1.61). The present results demonstrate the possible predictive power of non-invasive measurement of the CCA-IMT with respect to BI versus ICH and deserve further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Therapeutics, University of Athens, Alexandra Hospital, Athens, Greece. vemmosk@ath.forthnet.gr
authors.forename: Konstantinos N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Vemmos
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsivgoulis
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spengos
authors.forename: Christos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Papamichael
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zakopoulos
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daffertshofer
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lekakis
authors.forename: Myron
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mavrikakis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography