Inverse association between size of the lipid-rich necrotic core and vascularization in human carotid plaques.

Purpose: To study the relationship between the size of the lipid-rich necrotic core measured by MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and the level of plaque vascularization measured by contrast-enhanced ultrasound, in human carotid plaques. Further, to compare the size of lipid-rich necrotic core from MRI to plaque echogenicity.

Methods: Thirty-one subjects with carotid plaques underwent standard B-mode ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound and MRI.

The association between autonomic dysfunction, inflammation and atherosclerosis in men under investigation for carotid plaques.

Background: Autonomic dysfunction is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), however, the exact mechanism linking autonomic dysfunction to cardiovascular disease is not known. In this study we hypothesized that autonomic dysfunction increases inflammation, which subsequently accelerates atherosclerosis. The aim of the current study was to investigate the association between autonomic tone, inflammation and atherosclerosis.

A study of plaque vascularization and inflammation using quantitative contrast-enhanced US and PET/CT.

Background: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an in vivo methodology to quantify carotid plaque vascularization. Increased metabolism in plaques, measured as FDG uptake in PET/CT examination, has been associated with markers of inflammation in histological samples. In this study, we tested the association between FDG uptake and vascularization measured by CEUS to assess whether CEUS can be used as an in vivo marker of plaque vulnerability.

Real-time imaging required for optimal echocardiographic assessment of aortic valve calcification.

Introduction: Aortic valve calcification (AVC), even without haemodynamic significance, may be prognostically import as an expression of generalized atherosclerosis, but techniques for echocardiographic assessment are essentially unexplored.

Methods: Two-dimensional (2D) echocardiographic recordings (Philips IE33) of the aortic valve in short-axis and long-axis views were performed in 185 consecutive patients within 1 week before surgery for aortic stenosis (n = 109, AS), aortic regurgitation (n = 61, AR), their combination (n = 8) or dilation of the ascending aorta (n = 7). The grey scale mean (GSMn) of the aortic valve in an end-diastolic short-axis still frame was measured.

Slightly elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentrations are associated with carotid atherosclerosis in women with varying degrees of glucose tolerance.

We examined whether high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) ≥2.0 mg/L was associated with increased intima-media thickness (IMT), plaque burden, and plaque echolucency in carotid arteries. Women (n = 635) from a population sample of 64-year-old females with varying degrees of glucose tolerance underwent risk factor assessment, measurement of hsCRP, and ultrasound examinations of the carotid arteries.

The haptoglobin 2-2 genotype is associated with carotid atherosclerosis in 64-year old women with established diabetes.

Background: Haptoglobin polymorphism generates three common human genotypes: Hp1-1, Hp2-1 and Hp2-2. Among subjects with diabetes, Hp2-2 is associated with an elevated risk to develop cardiovascular disease. The impact of haptoglobin genotype on subclinical carotid atherosclerosis is not known.

Percentage white: a new feature for ultrasound classification of plaque echogenicity in carotid artery atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerotic stenotic and nonstenotic plaques of the carotid artery with low echogenicity have been shown to be associated with cardiovascular disease. The aim was to develop a new method for semiautomated ultrasound image analysis to classify nonstenotic carotid plaques, evaluate cases with multiple plaques and examine the association between a new image analysis feature of echogenicity and predictors of cardiovascular disease. The new image analysis feature, percentage white (PW), represents the fraction of bright structures inside a plaque and is integrated in an objective semiautomated method to evaluate echogenicity (SAMEE) in carotid plaques.