title: Evaluation of abdominal aortic elasticity by strain rate imaging in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To use strain rate imaging (SRI) to compare the abdominal aortic wall elasticity between patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured the abdominal aorta intima-media thickness (IMT) with B-mode echography, and the anterior and posterior wall displacement (d), strain, and strain rate (SR) with SRI, in 90 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 30 control subjects (group A). The patients were classified into group B (normal IMT), group C (thickened IMT), and group D (one single atheroma plaque).
  
  
  RESULTS
  d, strain, and SR were significantly lower in group B, C, and D than in group A (p < .05). Systolic, early-diastolic, and late-diastolic SR were lower in patients with diabetes (especially in group D) than in controls. There were significant differences in systolic SR, early-diastolic SR, and late-diastolic SR between group A and group B (p < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SRI is a noninvasive method that can demonstrate a loss in aorta wall elasticity in patients with diabetes with normal IMT.
authors.affiliation: Ultrasound Department, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, 148 Baojian Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, 150086.
authors.forename: Yanxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Dawei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jiawei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004548:Elasticity; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: abdominal aorta; diabetes mellitus; elasticity; strain rate imaging