Usefulness of Carotid Arterial Strain Values for Evaluating the Arteriosclerosis

Aim: We investigated the clinical usefulness of carotid arterial strain and the strain rate for evaluating the progression of arteriosclerosis measured using a two-dimensional speckle-tracking method in carotid ultrasonography. Methods: We enrolled 259 participants (age: 64 ± 12 years; men: 149; women: 110) in this retrospective analysis. The circumferential strain and the strain rate were measured in bilateral common carotid arteries, and the lowest values were used for the analyses. To assess the characteristics of strain and the strain rate, we investigated the associations between the strain values and gender, age, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), and the presence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia. We also examined the explanatory factors for the strain values using clinical parameters along with the intima-media thickness (IMT), the ankle brachial index (ABI), and the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) as possible candidates. Finally, we investigated whether the strain values might be an independent predictor for vascular diseases using multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: The carotid circumferential strain and the strain rate were significantly correlated with age, IMT, and the CAVI, but not with the BMI, BP, or ABI. Strain and the strain rates were lower in participants with hypertension or cerebrovascular disease and were selected as significant predictive factors for the presence of cerebrovascular diseases, together with diabetes and the CAVI. Conclusions: Strain and the strain rate of carotid arteries, which could represent local arterial stiffness, might be associated with atherosclerosis and could possibly be used to predict cerebrovascular disease.

[1]  Y. Yoon,et al.  Assessing Impact of High-Dose Pitavastatin on Carotid Artery Elasticity with Speckle-Tracking Strain Imaging , 2018, Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis.

[2]  Zhijie Wang,et al.  Viscoelastic Properties of Cardiovascular Tissues , 2016 .

[3]  J. Kasprzak,et al.  Circumferential strain of carotid arteries does not differ between patients with advanced coronary artery disease and group without coronary stenoses. , 2016, Advances in medical sciences.

[4]  O. Franco,et al.  Carotid stiffness is associated with incident stroke: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. , 2015, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[5]  Giel Nijpels,et al.  Local stiffness of the carotid and femoral artery is associated with incident cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality: the Hoorn study. , 2014, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[6]  O. Franco,et al.  Arterial Stiffness Is Associated With Carotid Intraplaque Hemorrhage in the General Population: The Rotterdam Study , 2013, Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology.

[7]  Eric Y. Yang,et al.  Application of speckle-tracking in the evaluation of carotid artery function in subjects with hypertension and diabetes. , 2013, Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography.

[8]  Chin-Shan Ho,et al.  Usefulness of vascular wall deformation for assessment of carotid arterial stiffness and association with previous stroke in elderly. , 2013, American journal of hypertension.

[9]  C. Ahn,et al.  The relationship between mechanical properties of carotid artery and coronary artery disease. , 2012, European heart journal cardiovascular Imaging.

[10]  Jitsuo Higaki,et al.  Carotid arterial circumferential strain by two-dimensional speckle tracking: a novel parameter of arterial elasticity , 2012, Hypertension Research.

[11]  S. Laurent,et al.  Arterial Stiffness and Stroke in Hypertension Therapeutic Implications for Stroke Prevention , 2012 .

[12]  G. Cho,et al.  Validation of circumferential carotid artery strain as a screening tool for subclinical atherosclerosis. , 2012, Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis.

[13]  H. Miyoshi,et al.  Vascular aging of common carotid artery and abdominal aorta in clinically normal individuals and preclinical patients with cardiovascular risk factors: diagnostic value of two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography , 2013, Heart and Vessels.

[14]  Eric Y. Yang,et al.  Segmental analysis of carotid arterial strain using speckle-tracking. , 2011, Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography.

[15]  Y. Momiyama,et al.  Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index is a predictor of cardiovascular events , 2011 .

[16]  K. Shimamoto,et al.  Quantitative Measurement of Circumferential Carotid Arterial Strain by Two‐Dimensional Speckle Tracking Imaging in Healthy Subjects , 2011, Echocardiography.

[17]  A. Catalano,et al.  Two-dimensional speckle-tracking strain imaging in the assessment of mechanical properties of carotid arteries: feasibility and comparison with conventional markers of subclinical atherosclerosis. , 2011, European journal of echocardiography : the journal of the Working Group on Echocardiography of the European Society of Cardiology.

[18]  Enrico Vassallo,et al.  Does carotid intima-media thickness regression predict reduction of cardiovascular events? A meta-analysis of 41 randomized trials. , 2010, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[19]  Brahmajee K Nallamothu,et al.  Are changes in carotid intima-media thickness related to risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction? A critical review and meta-regression analysis. , 2010, American heart journal.

[20]  L. Brodin,et al.  Ultrasonographic strain imaging is superior to conventional non-invasive measures of vascular stiffness in the detection of age-dependent differences in the mechanical properties of the common carotid artery. , 2010, European journal of echocardiography : the journal of the Working Group on Echocardiography of the European Society of Cardiology.

[21]  M. Chiariello,et al.  Cardiovascular Events?: A Meta-Analysis of 41 Randomized Trials Does Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Regression Predict Reduction of , 2010 .

[22]  T. Kawagishi,et al.  Speckle Tracking for Assessment of Cardiac Motion and Dyssynchrony , 2008, Echocardiography.

[23]  A. Yamashina,et al.  The Relationships of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors to Flow-Mediated Dilatation in Japanese Subjects Free of Cardiovascular Disease , 2008, Hypertension Research.

[24]  G. Mitchell.  Effects of central arterial aging on the structure and function of the peripheral vasculature: implications for end-organ damage. , 2008, Journal of applied physiology.

[25]  T. Marwick,et al.  Influence of cardiovascular risk factors on total arterial compliance. , 2008, Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography.

[26]  Yasuhiko Abe,et al.  Usefulness of automated quantitation of regional left ventricular wall motion by a novel method of two-dimensional echocardiographic tracking. , 2006, The American journal of cardiology.

[27]  Kuniaki Otsuka,et al.  A novel blood pressure-independent arterial wall stiffness parameter; cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI). , 2006, Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis.

[28]  K. Yoshinaga,et al.  Higher Brachial-Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity Is Associated with More Advanced Carotid Atherosclerosis in End-Stage Renal Disease , 2005, Hypertension Research.

[29]  S. Takagi,et al.  Prevalence of asymptomatic arteriosclerosis obliterans and its relationship with risk factors in inhabitants of rural communities in Japan: Tanno-Sobetsu study. , 2004, Atherosclerosis.

[30]  Richard B Devereux,et al.  Relationship of High and Low Ankle Brachial Index to All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: The Strong Heart Study , 2004, Circulation.

[31]  S. Laurent,et al.  Aortic Stiffness Is an Independent Predictor of Fatal Stroke in Essential Hypertension , 2003, Stroke.

[32]  E. Benjamin,et al.  Guidelines for the ultrasound assessment of endothelial-dependent flow-mediated vasodilation of the brachial artery: a report of the International Brachial Artery Reactivity Task Force. , 2002, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[33]  S. Laurent,et al.  Aortic Stiffness Is an Independent Predictor of Primary Coronary Events in Hypertensive Patients: A Longitudinal Study , 2002, Hypertension.

[34]  R. Karas,et al.  The protective effects of estrogen on the cardiovascular system. , 2002, The New England journal of medicine.

[35]  G. Mitchell,et al.  Pulse pressure, arterial compliance and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. , 1999, Current opinion in nephrology and hypertension.

[36]  P. Canham,et al.  Collagen organization in the branching region of human brain arteries. , 1998, Stroke.

[37]  R T Tranquillo,et al.  Magnetically orientated tissue-equivalent tubes: application to a circumferentially orientated media-equivalent. , 1996, Biomaterials.

[38]  R Armentano,et al.  Effects of hypertension on viscoelasticity of carotid and femoral arteries in humans. , 1995, Hypertension.

[39]  D. Celermajer,et al.  Endothelium-dependent dilation in the systemic arteries of asymptomatic subjects relates to coronary risk factors and their interaction. , 1994, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[40]  E. Meaney,et al.  Structural and dynamic changes in the elastic arteries due to arterial hypertension and hypercholesterolemia , 1993, Clinical cardiology.

[41]  F A Auger,et al.  In vitro construction of a human blood vessel from cultured vascular cells: a morphologic study. , 1993, Journal of vascular surgery.

[42]  G GUIMARAES,et al.  Essential hypertension , 1950, Revue de medecine aeronautique.