Search results for "Heros"
showing 10 items of 603 documents
Preclinical carotid atherosclerosis enhances the global cardiovascular risk and increases the rate of cerebro- and cardiovascular events in a five-ye…
2009
AIM: To evaluate if the intima-media thickening (IMT) and asymptomatic carotid plaque (ACP), as expression of carotid preclinical atherosclerosis (pre-ATS), can provide further information on the global cardiovascular risk (GCVR). METHODS: We studied 454 asymptomatic subjects, with a cluster of risk factors (RF), and evaluated the incidence of a first cardiovascular (CV) event in a five-year follow-up. The subjects at admission were subdivided in three groups of risk. RESULTS: Events occurred in 38% of subjects at high risk, in 13% and 6% of subjects at intermediate and low risk (p<0.003). Among evaluated parameters, carotid pre-ATS was a predictive marker of CV events (OR 2.7, 95% IC 1.4-5…
Relationship Between Carotid Atherosclerosis and Pulse Pressure with Renal Hemodynamics in Hypertensive Patients.
2015
BACKGROUND Structural atherosclerotic damage, arterial stiffness, pulse pressure (PP), and renal hemodynamics may interact and influence each other. Renal resistance index (RRI) appears as a good indicator of systemic vascular changes. The aim of our study was to assess the independent relationships of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), and peripheral PP with RRI in hypertensives with various degrees of renal function. METHODS We enrolled 463 hypertensive patients (30-70 years) with normal renal function (group 0; n = 280) and with chronic kidney disease (groups I-V; n = 183). All subjects underwent ultrasonographic examination of intrarenal and caroti…
Early Vascular Aging in Normotensive Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
2015
Connective tissue diseases, like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), are associated with early and accelerated atherosclerosis. Recently, the concept of “early vascular aging” (EVA) has been more widely accepted. Aortic stiffness is one of the important markers of EVA. We evaluated EVA and subclinical atherosclerosis, by measuring aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) and carotid intima–media thickness (cIMT), in 50 normotensive patients with SLE (mean age: 39 ± 12 years). We compared these participants with 50 age- and sex-matched patients with essential hypertension (EH) and 20 healthy controls. Each participant underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), aPWV, and cIMT me…
Impact of preclinical carotid atherosclerosis on global cardiovascular risk stratification and events in a 10-year follow-up: comparison between the …
2019
Background The aim of the study was to compare three widely used algorithms for stratification of the global cardiovascular risk (GCVR): the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) score, the European systemic coronary risk estimation (SCORE) and the Italian 'Progetto Cuore' (heart project) score. It was also investigated how preclinical carotid atherosclerosis (pre-ATS) might influence the incidence and improve the risk prediction of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events. Methods Subjects (n = 358) without previous history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) were recruited and the GCVR was calculated for each patient. An ultrasound evaluation of the carotid arteries was also performed. Results Accord…
Endothelial dysfunction and carotid lesions are strong predictors of clinical events in patients with early stages of atherosclerosis: a 24-month fol…
2008
Background The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the vasodilator response to brachial artery and the presence of carotid lesions may have a prognostic significance in patients with early stages of atherosclerosis. Methods and results Vascular echography was performed to analyze flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) at the brachial artery and intima–media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries in 84 asymptomatic patients. At baseline, we evaluated all the established traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Transient ischemic attack, stroke, effort or unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction, peripheral arterial disease and cerebrovascular and cardiovascular death served as outc…
Association between asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis and degenerative aortic stenosis.
2012
OBJECTIVE: Degenerative aortic stenosis shows similarities with atherosclerosis. To confirm the hypothesis that aortic stenosis is an "atherosclerosis-like" disease, we investigated the association between degenerative aortic stenosis and atherosclerosis of carotid arteries. METHODS: We studied 270 consecutive patients, 135 with degenerative aortic stenosis (trans-aortic peak velocity ≥ 2 m/sec) and other 135 subjects without aortic valve disease. All patients underwent echocardiography and ultrasound scan of the supra-aortic trunks to assess the presence of plaque and/or intima-media thickening (IMT). RESULTS: Atherosclerosis of carotid arteries (IMT and plaque) was significantly more freq…
Altered expression of inflammation-related genes in human carotid atherosclerotic plaques.
2011
Abstract Objective Inflammation is a pivotal process in atherosclerosis development and progression, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely obscure. We have conducted an extensive expression study of atherosclerotic plaques to identify the inflammatory pathways involved in atherosclerosis. Methods We studied 11 human carotid plaques, their respective adjacent regions and 7 control arteries from different subjects. Expression of 92 genes was studied by TaqMan low-density array human inflammation panel. Human aortic endothelial and smooth muscle cells were used for in vitro experiments. Results The mRNA levels of 44/92 genes (48%) differed significantly between the tissues exa…
Prediction of cardio- and cerebro-vascular events in patients with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis and low HDL-cholesterol.
2007
Low HDL-cholesterol concentrations are associated with increased cardiovascular risk and recent evidences suggest that HDL may aggravate the atherosclerotic process promoting inflammation: HDL are anti-inflammatory in the absence of inflammation but can become proinflammatory in the presence of atherosclerosis. Yet, no data is available on the cardiovascular outcome in subjects with low HDL-cholesterol and early stages of atherosclerosis. Therefore, we included in a prospective 5-year follow-up study 150 subjects with low HDL-cholesterol concentrations and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, as assessed by carotid colour doppler, evaluating at baseline all the established traditional cardi…
PREDICTION OF CEREBROVASCULAR AND CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS IN PATIENTS WITH SUBLINICAL CAROTID ATHEROSCLEROSIS: THE ROLE OF C-REACTIVE PROTEIN
2008
Background Several studies have suggested that inflammation and infection may be important for accelerated progression of atherosclerosis, but few data are available on subjects with early stages of atherosclerosis. Methods and Results We included, in a prospective 5-year follow-up study, 150 patients with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, evaluating at baseline all established traditional cardiovascular risk factors (eg, older age, male sex, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, family history of coronary artery disease, and dyslipidemia); 2 markers of inflammation, fibrinogen, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP); and the seropositivity to Helicobacter pylori, Chlamydia pn…
An assessment of the hemorheological profile in patients with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis divided in relation to the number of cardiovascular…
2021
We present a cohort of 100 subjects [43 men and 57 women; median age 66.00(25)] who were tested using carotid ultrasound to identify subclinical carotid atherosclerosis (SCA). We have evaluated the behaviour of whole blood viscosity (WBV) at high (450 s–1) and low (0.51 s–1) shear rates, plasma viscosity (450–1), hematocrit and mean erythrocyte aggregation. When compared to normal control subjects, using the Mann-Whitney test, we observed in SCA patients a significant increase in WBV only. The results were substantial after having divided the SCA subjects according to the cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs) and the degree of insulin resistance; the research was performed using two surrogate …