Search results for "Carotid artery"
showing 10 items of 206 documents
Preclinical atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome increase cardio- and cerebrovascular events rate: a 20-year follow up
2013
BACKGROUND: Intima-media thickness (IMT) is a validated marker of preclinical atherosclerosis and a predictor of cardiovascular events. PATIENTS: We studied a population of 529 asymptomatic patients (age 62 ± 12.8 years), divided into two groups of subjects with and without Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). METHODS: All patients, at baseline, have had a carotid ultrasound evaluation and classified in two subgroups: the first one without atherosclerotic lesions and the second one with preclinical atherosclerosis (increased IMT or asymptomatic carotid plaque). Cardiovascular endpoints were investigated in a 20-years follow-up. RESULTS: There were 242 cardiovascular events: 144 among patients with Me…
Modified electrocardiograph-triggered black-blood turbo spin-echo technique to improve T1-weighting in contrast-enhanced MRI of atherosclerotic carot…
2008
Purpose To assess the efficacy of a modified electrocardiograph (EKG)-triggered black-blood T1W (T1W) spin-echo sequence in improving contrast on post-gadolinium high-resolution carotid plaque imaging by implementing heart-rate–independent contrast preparation. Materials and Methods We used a standard EKG-triggered double inversion-recovery (DIR) turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequence modified with the addition of an extra saturation (90°) radio frequency (RF) pulse placed immediately after the DIR module, shortening the repetition time to a fixed value of 400 msec. A total of 10 patients with atherosclerotic disease were included in the study. Postinjection intraplaque contrast measurements were p…
Polyvascular subclinical atherosclerosis in familial hypercholesterolemia: The role of cholesterol burden and gender
2019
International audience; BACKGROUND AND AIM:Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is a genetic disease characterized by a heterogeneous phenotype. The assessment of cardiovascular (CV) risk is challenging for HeFH. Cholesterol burden (CB) allows to estimate the lifelong exposure to high levels of cholesterol. The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of subclinical atherosclerosis and the relationship between atherosclerosis and the CB in a sample of HeFH patients, focusing on sex-related differences.METHODS AND RESULTS:154 asymptomatic HeFH subjects underwent coronary-artery-calcium score (CACs) and Doppler ultrasound of carotid and femoral arteries. Yearly lipid pro…
Renal function and carotid atherosclerosis in adults with no known kidney disease
2017
Abstract Background and aims A high prevalence of atherosclerotic lesions characterizes patients with chronic kidney disease, though there is little data on the relationship between kidney function and atherosclerotic changes in the healthy population or in people with no known renal impairment. The aim of our study was to analyze, in a comprehensive general population with no known kidney disease, the relationship between renal function and subclinical carotid atherosclerotic damage. Methods and results A general real-life population of 611 participants (233 males and 378 females; age ≥18 years) with no known kidney failure was selected for the study. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) w…
Liraglutide improves metabolic parameters and carotid intima-media thickness in diabetic patients with the metabolic syndrome: an 18-month prospectiv…
2016
Abstract Background Liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue, exerts several beneficial non-glycemic effects in patients with type-2 diabetes (T2DM), such as those on body weight, blood pressure, plasma lipids and inflammation markers. However, the effects of liraglutide on cardiovascular (CV) risk markers in subjects with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) are still largely unknown. We herein explored its effects on various cardio-metabolic risk markers of the MetS in subjects with T2DM. Methods We performed an 18-month prospective, real-world study. All subjects had T2DM and the MetS based on the AHA/NHLBI criteria. Subjects with a history of a major CV event were excluded. One hundred-twenty-one subject…
Carotid atherosclerosis and chronic hepatitis C: A prospective study of risk associations
2011
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There are contrasting results in studies of cardiovascular risk in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (G1 CHC). We evaluated the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis compared with a control population in order to assess the potential association between atherosclerosis, host and viral factors, and liver histological features. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred seventy-four consecutive biopsy-proven G1 CHC patients were evaluated by anthropometric and metabolic measurements. One hundred seventy-four patients attending an outpatient cardiology unit were used as controls. Intima-media thickness (IMT) and carotid plaques, defined as focal thickening of > 1.3 mm a…
Prognostic role of endothelial dysfunction and carotid intima-media thickness in patients undergoing coronary stent implantation
2009
Aim. Impaired endothelial function and increased carotid intima-media thickness are key events in the atherosclerotic process and predict future cardiovascular events in subjects with and without coronary artery disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the vasodilator response to increased flow in the brachial artery and the presence of carotid lesions may have a prognostic significance for in-stent restenosis in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty. Methods. The study population included 58 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stenting and at least 10 months of follow-up. All patients underwent ultrasound detection of brachial artery re…
Carotid and peripheral atherosclerosis in patients who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention and outcome associated with multifocal at…
2006
AIM: The aim of our study was to determine if patients with multifocal atherosclerosis have a worse prognosis than patients with atherosclerosis only in the coronary bed. METHODS: We studied 45 subjects admitted to intensive coronary care unit of the Division of Cardiology with the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were investigated and laboratory analysis included measurement of plasma lipids, glycemia, fibrinogen and high-sensitivity-C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Each patient underwent coronary-angiography as well as carotid and peripheral arterial ultrasound examination. A follow-up of 13+/-2 months was performed. RESULTS: We found tha…
Atrial natriuretic factor, but not oxytocin, is present in atherosclerotic plaques of human common carotid arteries
2010
We performed a study on 25 common carotid arteries (CCA) affected by atherosclerotic plaques, comparing them to 25 normal CCA. We researched the presence and localisation of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and oxytocin (OX) by immunohistochemistry. We found ANF abundantly expressed in plaques, mainly localising in intima and subintima layers; by contrast normal vessels were scarcely positive or negative; finally, OX resulted negative or weakly positive in both atherosclerotic and normal vessels. Our results show for the first time ANF presence in atherosclerotic plaques of CCA and are in agreement with other studies, mainly performed in vitro, that hypothesise the involvement of this molecu…
Carotid atherosclerosis in hypercholesterolemic patients: Relationship with cardiovascular events
2001
Background and Aim: Extracranial cerebrovascular atherosclerosis is a common feature of hypercholesterolemia and carotid lesions are good predictors of cardiovascular events in the general population. Factors associated with the carotid damage of hypercholesterolemic patients and their relationships with the occurrence of clinical events are investigated in this study. Methods and Results: One hundred and seventeen cardiovascular event-free hypercholesterolemic subjects underwent a complete clinical examination to look for additional risk factors. A blood sample was collected for lipoprotein determination and an ultrasound high resolution B-mode imaging examination of the common carotid art…