Ultrasonic correlates of common carotid atherosclerosis in patients with coronary artery disease

Increased intima-media thickness and plaque development in the extracranial carotid arteries reportedly correlate well with the prevalence of coronary artery diseases. The location of these atherosclerotic lesions in the carotid artery varies with age in patients with coronary artery atherosclerosis. Intima-media thickness, plaque, and calcification in the common carotid artery and bifurcation were assessed with high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography. Forty patients with severe atherosclerosis of the coronary artery and 56 healthy control subjects with no risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis were included in this study. The subjects were divided into a middle-age group (40-59 yr) and an old-age group (60-79 yr). In both groups, the intimamedia thickness in the patients was significantly higher than that in the controls. Intima-media thickness of at least 0.7 mm in the middle-age group and at least 1.0 mm in the old-age group was specific and positively predictive of coronary artery disease. Plaque (> 1.0 mm) and calcification were more significant in patients than in controls. In the middle-age group, intimamedia thickness in the common carotid artery was correlated with coronary atherosclerotic severity. Conversely, in the old-age group, the presence of plaque and calcification at the bifurcation was correlated with coronary atherosclerotic severity. The characteristic manifestation of the atherosclerotic lesion in the carotid artery varied with age in patients with coronary artery disease.