Validation of Circumferential Carotid Artery Strain as a Screening Tool for Subclinical Atherosclerosis

Abstract

Aim:We evaluated the validity of circumferential carotid artery strain as a marker for subclinical atherosclerosis and its benefit in addition to carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) to detect high-risk groups. Methods Conclusion:Circumferential strain can be used as a screening tool for subclinical atherosclerosis and may help detect subjects at increased risk for atherosclerotic disease.

Quantitative Measurement of Circumferential Carotid Arterial Strain by Two-Dimensional Speckle Tracking Imaging in Healthy Subjects

“…Radial strain in the CCA derived from tissue Doppler velocities correlated with parameters of carotid wall stiffness 13 . Furthermore, CAS has been shown to correlate with several parameters of carotid wall stiffness such as stiffness parameter of β, distensibility coefficient, and brachial‐ankle pulse‐wave velocity in a preliminary study 19 . Thus, this index could be used as an index of carotid wall stiffness.…”

Carotid artery wall mechanics in young males with high cardiorespiratory fitness

“…However, previous research has shown that healthy ageing is associated with reductions in PCS, S‐SR and D‐SR of the CCA (Bjallmark et al., ; Kawasaki et al., ), which might reflect age‐related degeneration of elastin fibres and compensatory increases in collagen within the extracellular matrix of the arterial wall (Greenwald, ; Lakatta & Levy, ). Moreover, in the presence of coronary artery disease, PCS and S‐SR are further reduced in comparison to age‐matched healthy control subjects (Kawasaki et al., ), and a strong inverse correlation between PCS and Framingham risk scores has been observed in asymptomatic individuals (Park, Cho, Kim, Kim, & Sohn, ). Although pathological alterations to intrinsic arterial wall properties might, in part, explain the reduction in CCA PCS and S‐SR in older and diseased populations, it is possible that exercise‐induced improvements in the relative proportion of elastin and collagen explain the differences in PCS and S‐SR between the highly and moderately fit young men in the present study.…”

Carotid strain measurement in patients with pseudoxanthoma elasticum – Hint for a different pathomechanism?

“…In addition, Podgórski et al already performed vascular strain analysis to examine arterial calcification (26). Bjällmark et al and Park et al also revealed the association between the novel parameters and subclinical atherosclerosis in which they saw vascular strain imaging as a superior method (22,32).…”