Background:We performed this study to evaluate the association between the extent of coronary atherosclerosis and the noninvasive atherosclerosis surrogates such as carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), endothelial function, and arterial stiffness in patients with coronary atherosclerosis.
Methods:The study population was consisted of 275 consecutive patients (mean age; 60 yrs, 140 males), who had coronary atherosclerosis by coronary angiography. The extent of coronary atherosclerosis was classified to 0 (n=125), 1 (n=75), 2 (n=38), 3 (n=21) according to the vessel number narrowed by more than 50%. Carotid IMT was semi-automatically measured using MATH software and high-resolution ultrasound. Endothelial function was measured by flow-mediated brachial artery dilation (FMD, %). Arterial stiffness was measured by obtaining pulse wave velocity in the aorta, upper and lower extremities.
Results:Carotid IMT was significantly (r=0.211, p=0.001) increased according to the extent of coronary atherosclerosis (0.85+/-0.16 mm, 0.88+/-0.15 mm, 0.91+/-0.19 mm, 0.98+/-0.18 mm, respectively). However, there was no significant association between the other surrogates and the extent of coronary atherosclerosis. Carotid IMT also showed the significant association with the aortic stiffness (r=0.179, p=0.004). There was not any more significant association among the other surrogates in this study.
Conclusions:The extent of coronary atherosclerosis is associated with carotid IMT but not independently, only out of several noninvasive atherosclerosis surrogates in patients with coronary atherosclerosis. And carotid IMT is also associated with the aortic stiffness in this study population.
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