Can single cIMT measurement during echocardiography affect further investigation decision for coronary artery disease?

OBJECTIVE This study was aimed to evaluate whether there is any potential role of the measurement of the carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) during the echocardiography session on decision-making to refer patients for further diagnostic evaluation such as gated myocardial perfusion imaging (gMPI). METHODS cIMT of 199 consecutive patients was measured during the echocardiography session and all patients underwent gMPI. According to gMPI results, patients were divided into two groups as CAD and normal groups and according to cIMT measurements patients were divided into four subgroups. RESULTS Although, there was a good correlation between the age and cIMT values of the patients (r=0.546, p<0.001), the correlation between the summed stress scores and the age of the patients was very weak (r=0.142, p=0.045) and the correlation between the summed stress scores and the cIMT values was very weak (r=0.107, p=0.131). The cIMT measurements of the CAD group (0.74±0.17 mm) were significantly higher than those of the normal group (0.67±0.16 mm) (p=0.012), but after the age correction, the significance between the cIMT measurements of the CAD and the normal groups was not found (p=0.131). Besides, the relationship between the categorical cIMT values of both the CAD and the normal groups was insignificant (p=0.059) and the correlation between the increasing cIMT values and the presence of detectable CAD was also very weak (r=0.187, p=0.08). CONCLUSION cIMT can predict occurrence of cardiovascular events in subjects, but single cIMT measurement during echocardiographic examination does not seem to have potential role on decision making for further investigation in patients with suspected CAD.