Ultrasound Diagnosis of Carotid Artery Stiffness in Patients with Ischemic Leukoaraiosis

• Published in: Ultrasound in medicine & biology Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 64 - 71
• Main Authors: Turk, Monika, Pretnar-Oblak, Janja, Zupan, Matija, Zvan, Bojana, Zaletel, Marjan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 2015
• Subjects: Brain Ischemia - diagnostic imaging; Brain Ischemia - etiology; Brain Ischemia - physiopathology; Carotid arterial stiffness; Carotid Arteries - diagnostic imaging; Carotid Arteries - physiopathology; Carotid Artery Diseases - complications; Carotid Artery Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Carotid Artery Diseases - physiopathology; Doppler sonography; Echo tracking system; Elastic Modulus; Elasticity Imaging Techniques - methods; Female; Humans; Leukoaraiosis; Leukoaraiosis - diagnostic imaging; Leukoaraiosis - etiology; Leukoaraiosis - physiopathology; Male; Middle Aged; Radiology; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Stress, Mechanical; Vascular risk factors; White matter changes; Echo tracking system; Carotid arterial stiffness; White matter changes; Doppler sonography; Leukoaraiosis; Vascular risk factors
• ISSN: 0301-5629; 1879-291X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.08.002

Abstract The pathophysiology of ischemic leukoaraiosis (ILA) is unknown. It was recently found that ILA patients have increased aortic stiffness. Carotid stiffness is a more specific parameter and could have value as a non-invasive diagnostic value for ILA. Therefore, using color-coded duplex sonography, we compared local carotid stiffness parameters of 59 patients with ILA with those of 45 well-matched controls. The diagnosis of ILA was based on exclusion of other causes of white matter changes seen on magnetic resonance imaging. Pulse wave velocity β (PWVβ, m/s), pressure–strain elasticity modulus ( Ep , kPa), β index and augmentation index ( Aix , %) values were higher and arterial compliance (AC, mm2 /kPa) values were lower in the ILA group; however, only Ep and PWVβ reached statistical significance ( p  ≤ 0.05). β, Ep and PWVβ exhibited an increasing trend with higher Fazekas score, though only Ep reached significance ( p  = 0.05). The main conclusion was that Ep and PWVβ could have a diagnostic role in patients with ILA.