The Relationship between Brachial Artery Intima-Media Thickness and Coronary Artery Disease
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- Category: Vol. 78, March 2010
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The Relationship between Brachial Artery Intima-Media Thickness and Coronary Artery Disease, WALID MAAMOUN and RASHA AL-ARASY
Abstract
Background: It has been shown that there exists a relation between the severity of coronary artery disease and morpho-logic changes in peripheral arteries. It was shown that increased intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery has been associated with coronary risk factors and atherosclerotic disease. It has been postulated, however, that such relation could exist in other arterial beds such as the Brachial artery, albeit not widely studied. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of BA-IMT measurement with high-resolution ultrasound and its relation to the angiographic evidence of CAD.
Methods: A total of fifty two patients (30 males and 22 females with mean age 43±9 years) in whom coronary angiog-raphy due to chest pain was performed in the University of Science and Technology hospital in Yemen; were consecutively enrolled into the study. All patients underwent selective CAG to determine coronary artery stenosis, followed on the next day with ultrasound assessment of Brachial artery IMT using high-resolution ultrasound.
Results: There were no significant differences between both groups as regard the baseline clinical characteristics. Patients in group II (patients with CAD) revealed significantly greater BA-IMT than those in group I (0.35±0.04 Vs 0.27±0.03, p<0.001). A significant correlation was observed between BA-IMT and severity of coronary artery disease as the mean BA-IMT was significantly higher in patients with two or three vessel disease rather than patients with single vessel disease (0.37±0.034 Vs 0.32±0.044, p 0.006).
Conclusion: The data of our study suggests that IMT of brachial artery is a reliable and feasible non-invasive parameter for the assessment of coronary artery disease.