Carotid artery longitudinal wall motion is associated with local blood velocity and left ventricular rotational, but not longitudinal, mechanics

Abstract

Recent studies have identified a predictable movement pattern of the common carotid artery wall in the longitudinal direction. While there is evidence that the magnitude of this carotid artery longitudinal wall motion (CALM) is sensitive to cardiovascular health status, little is known about the determinants of CALM. The purpose of this integrative study was to evaluate the contribution of left ventricular (LV) cardiac motion and local blood velocity to CALM. Simultaneous ultrasound measurements of CALM, common carotid artery mean blood velocity (MBV), and left ventricular motion were performed in ten young, healthy individuals (6 males; 22 ± 1 years). Peak anterograde CALM occurred at a similar time as peak MBV (18.57 ± 3.98% vs. 18.53 ± 2.81% cardiac cycle; t‐test: P = 0.94; ICC: 0.79, P < 0.01). The timing of maximum retrograde CALM displacement was different, but related, to both peak apical (41.00 ± 7.81% vs. 35.33 ± 5.79% cardiac cycle; t‐test: P < 0.01; ICC: 0.79, P < 0.01) and basal rotation (41.80 ± 6.12% vs. 37.30 ± 5.66% cardiac cycle; t‐test: P < 0.01; ICC: 0.74, P < 0.01) with peak cardiac displacements preceding peak CALM displacements in both cases. The association between basal rotation and retrograde CALM was further supported by strong correlations between their peak magnitudes (r = −0.70, P = 0.02), whereas the magnitude of septal longitudinal displacement was not associated with peak CALM (r = 0.11, P = 0.77). These results suggest that the rotational mechanical movement of the LV base may be closely associated with longitudinal mechanics in the carotid artery. This finding may have important implications for interpreting the complex relationship between ventricular and vascular function.

Transfer Function Analysis of the Longitudinal Motion of the Common Carotid Artery Wall

“…Another similarity with all the waveforms is the steer toward the retrograde direction roughly when the diastolic phase of the heart cycle begins. Similar observations have been made elsewhere (Cinthio et al, 2006; Au et al, 2016). …”

Cardiac and haemodynamic influence on carotid artery longitudinal wall motion

“…; Au et al . ). The above factors have been proposed and initially tested in a porcine model (Ahlgren et al .…”

“…,b), left ventricular (LV) rotation (Au et al . ) and local wall shear stress (Ahlgren et al . ; Au et al .…”

Dynamic Block Matching to assess the longitudinal component of the dense motion field of the carotid artery wall in B‐mode ultrasound sequences — Association with coronary artery disease

“…Building upon these findings, the independence between LOKI and wall shear stress was demonstrated, suggesting that LOKI is most likely caused by the pulsatile displacement of the heart, rather than by blood flow . A similar hypothesis was formulated in a study that evaluated the association of LOKI with both left ventricular cardiac motion and local blood velocity . A strong association between LOKI and the severity of carotid stenosis was demonstrated, potentially constituting a tool to screen arterial sites known to be predisposed to atherosclerotic plaque formation .…”

“…The peak‐to‐peak amplitude ∆ X of the motion trajectory [Fig. (c)], an established LOKI‐derived parameter that was demonstrated to be associated with cardiovascular risk factors, was extracted from the resulting motion field [Figs. (b), (c)].…”