[Color Doppler ultrasound study on pathological changes of lower extremity arteries in patients with metabolic syndrome].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the pathological changes of lower extremity arteries of patients with metabolic syndrome.


METHODS
Fifty patients with metabolic syndrome (MS) and 30 normal volunteers were included in this study. The inner diameters, peak systolic velocities and intima-media thicknesses of the lower extremity arteries, and the sizes and numbers of the plaques in the lower extremity arteries were obtained with color Doppler ultrasound (CDU).


RESULTS
In the fifty MS patients, the intima-media thicknesses of forty-one were thicker than 1.1 mm and thirty-three had plaques which had brought stenosis in different degrees. The intima-media thicknesses of the common femoral, popliteal and posterior tibial arteries in the MS patients were significantly thicker than those in the normal volunteers (P<0.01 or P<0.05), and a greater number of plaques in the lower extremity arteries were observed in the patients, as compared with the normal volunteers (P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Various pathological changes had taken place in the lower extremity arteries of the MS patients. The sites and degrees of the lower extremity arterial diseases in MS patients can be definitely detected with CDU.
Yin
Hao-Qiang
HQ
Department of Function, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China.
Peng
Xin
X
Xiao
Hu-Sheng
HS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000098:blood supply*; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D011150:Popliteal Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex