Usefulness of carotid ultrasonography in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease in patients undergoing exercise echocardiography.

Background: Relationship between carotid and coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients undergoing invasive and non-invasive test is unclear. The aim of the study is to evaluate whether carotid disease is associated with CAD in patients submitted to exercise echocardiography (EE) and if it improves the EE ability to predict CAD.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 156 subjects without previous vascular disease who underwent EE, carotid ultrasonography and coronary angiography between 2002 and 2013.