title: Ankle-brachial index and its link to automated carotid ultrasound measurement of intima-media thickness variability in 500 Japanese coronary artery disease patients.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and intima-media thickness variability (IMTV) along the artery are correlated to the ankle-brachial index (ABI) in Japanese coronary artery disease patients. Five hundred consecutive patients (312 males; median age 69 ± 11 years) who underwent carotid ultrasonography and first coronary angiography were prospectively analyzed. By using automated software (AtheroEdge™, AtheroPoint, Roseville, CA, USA), we obtained the cIMT and IMTV. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to calculate the association between ABI, automatically measured cIMT, automatically measured IMTV, and the SYNTAX score. The mean cIMT was 0.881 ± 0.334 mm and the mean IMTV was 0.141 ± 0.112. IMTV was negatively and significantly correlated to ABI (ρ = -0.147; p = 0.001), whereas cIMT was not (ρ = -0.075; p = 0.097). IMTV and cIMT had the same significant correlation with the SYNTAX score. When we considered patients with a higher risk factor (ABI ≤ 0.9), we found higher values of IMTV and the SYNTAX score, but not higher values of cIMT. Logistic regression analysis showed that IMTV was independently associated with the complexity of the coronary artery disease (as assessed by the SYNTAX score). In conclusion, we show that IMTV automatically measured using AtheroEdge™ was correlated with ABI, whereas cIMT was not. IMTV could be integrated with cIMT measurement to improve the assessment of cardiovascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM), Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobutaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugi
authors.forename: Masatako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Martino
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deidda
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Molinari
authors.forename: Kristen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Meiburger
authors.forename: U Rajendra
authors.initials: UR
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saba
authors.forename: Pier Paolo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Bassareo
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Martino
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mercuro
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nicolaides
authors.forename: Jasjit S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Suri
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D055109:Ankle Brachial Index / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging