title: Correlation between coronary artery disease severity, left ventricular mass index and carotid intima media thickness, assessed by radio-frequency.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery (CCA-IMT) is a validated marker of systemic atherosclerosis process. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between coronary artery disease (CAD), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and CCA-IMT, assessed by Radio Frequency-Quality Intima Media Thickness (RFQIMT) method, the next generation of IMT real-time measurement, based on the direct analysis of the radiofrequency signal and endowed with high accuracy and reproducibility in early detection of arterial wall thickness.
  
  
  METHODS
  115 patients (76 men, mean age: 65.1 ± 12 years) referred to our department and shown significant (≥ 70% luminal obstruction) stenosis at least in one major epicardial coronary artery were studied. Coronary angiograms were divided for severity and extent of the disease: 79 patients (69%) had one, 24 patients (21%) two, 12 patients (10%) three major epicardial coronary arteries with ≥ 70% stenosis. All patients underwent echocardiography and carotid ultrasound examination, assessed by RF.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dividing RFQIMT data in tertiles, dyslipidaemia (31 patients with IMT ≥ 1.20 mm vs 16 with IMT = 0.91-1.19 vs 25 with IMT ≤ 0.9, p = 0.004), LVMI (153.5 ± 20.6 g/m² in IMT ≥ 1.20 mm vs 131.2 ± 8.4 g/m² in IMT = 0.91-1.19 mm vs 114.3 ± 11.1 g/m² in IMT ≤ 0.9 mm, P < 0.001) and number of high stenosed coronary arteries (IMT ≥ 1.20 mm population more often showed three vessel diseases than IMT ≤ 0.90 mm one, P < 0.001) seemed to be significantly related to CCA-IMT increases. Furthermore, LVMI is positively related to IMT (r = 0.91; P < 0.001). In a multivariate regression model (R2 = 0.88), RFQIMT remained significantly associated with the dyslipidemia (regression coefficient ± standard error [SE]: 0.057 ± 0.023; p = 0.017), LVMI (regression coefficient ± SE: 0.01 ± 0.001; P < 0.0001) and number of damaged coronaries (regression coefficient ± SE: 0.0174 ± 0.028; P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RFQIMT is a sophisticated method for carotid ultrasound evaluation. Its evaluation in patients with at least one important major epicardial coronary vessel stenosis would help the accuracy in the general assessment of the number of coronary lesions in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Diseases Section, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. ciccone@cardio.uniba.it
authors.forename: Marco M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ciccone
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scicchitano
authors.forename: Annapaola
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zito
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Agati
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gesualdo
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mandolesi
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Carbonara
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ciciarello
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fedele
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D011846:Radio Waves; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
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