title: Evaluation of carotid artery elasticity changes in patients with type 2 diabetes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common causes of cardiovascular disease as it causes arterial stiffness changes. The purpose of this study is to characterize, in vivo, carotid arterial structural and functional changes by applying radio frequency and X-strain ultrasound techniques.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-one subjects were assigned into two groups; a diabetes group and a control group. Structural and functional changes in the common carotid arterial wall were investigated by quality intima-media thickness (QIMT), quality arterial stiffness (QAS), and X-strain analysis with a Mylab Twice ultrasound instrument. The relationships among variables between the two groups were analyzed in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference in carotid IMT (626.5 ± 169.1 μm vs. 568.5 ± 122.6 μm, P = 0.1506) between two groups. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and stiffness index (β) were remarkably greater (8.388 ± 3.254 m/s vs. 7.269 ± 1.332 m/s; 12.51 ± 14.16 vs.9.279 ± 2.871), while compliance coefficient (CC) decreased significantly in the diabetes group (0.802 ± 0.3094 mm2/Kpa vs. 0.968 ± 0.3992 mm2/Kpa) (P < 0.05). The displacement difference of radial (RD-D), longitudinal (LD-D) and rotation (ROT-D) directions were significantly different between two groups' comparison (P = 0.0212, P = 0.0235 and P = 0.0072, respectively). The time of circumferential peak strain difference (CS-DT) and the time of radial peak strain rate (RSR-T) were found to be significantly different between the two groups (341.9 ± 77.56 ms vs. 369.0 ± 78.26 ms, P = 0.0494; 142.7 ± 22.43 ms vs. 136.2 ± 30.70 ms, P = 0.0474). CS-TD and RSR-T were also found to be positively correlated with CC value (r = 0.3908, P < 0.005 and r = 0.3027, P = 0.0326, respectively). Finally, PWV was negatively correlated with CC with (r = -0.6177, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In type 2 diabetes, the functional changes in CCA can be identified using the methods presented in this article earlier than the structural changes. Arterial stiffness values provided by QAS and X-strain analysis can be used as indicators of CCA functional lesions in patients with type 2 diabetes.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Ji-Kai
authors: JK
authors: Yin
authors: Department of Ultrasound Diagnosis, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China. duanyy@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors: Yun-You
authors: YY
authors: Duan
authors: Xi
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Xu
authors: Jia
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Yi-Lin
authors: YL
authors: Yang
authors: Li-Jun
authors: LJ
authors: Yuan
authors: Tie-Sheng
authors: TS
authors: Cao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common / Q000473:pathology*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness / Q000592:standards*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004548:Elasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology*