Atherosclerotic changes in the carotid artery bulb as measured by B-mode ultrasound are associated with the extent of coronary atherosclerosis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Ultrasound is increasingly used to measure atherosclerotic development in carotid and femoral arteries. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between coronary atherosclerosis as measured by quantitative angiography and peripheral atherosclerosis as measured by ultrasound in three different arterial regions.

METHODS: Patients (n = 32) with at least two coronary segments with visible signs of atherosclerosis as defined in a computer-assisted analysis of coronary angiograms were also examined with B-mode ultrasound. The extent of coronary atherosclerosis was expressed as the average diameter stenosis of coronary segments, and peripheral atherosclerosis was defined as intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaque occurrence in the common carotid artery, the carotid bulb, and the common femoral artery.

RESULTS: The results showed a significant correlation between the ultrasound measurement of IMT of the carotid bulb and diameter stenosis of the included coronary segments (r = .68, P = .01) and of carotid plaques and diameter stenosis (P < .001). The correlation between common carotid IMT and diameter stenosis of included coronary segments was not statistically significant (r = .31, NS). There were no significant relationships between common femoral IMT or femoral plaques and diameter stenosis of included coronary segments.

CONCLUSIONS: Although this study is small, it points to a very important aspect of ultrasound measurements of atherosclerosis: measurements performed in the common carotid artery or the femoral artery may not relate to coronary atherosclerosis in the same way as measurements performed in the carotid bulb. The findings underline the importance of measuring IMT not only in the common carotid artery but also in the carotid bulb and present data separately. These results have to be confirmed in a larger-scale study.