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Brachial Artery Wall Stiffness Assessment by Shear Wave Elastography: A Promising New Diagnostic Tool for Endothelial Dysfunction Detection
Author(s) -
Gülşen Fatih,
Samanci Cesur,
Memis Durmaz Emine Sebnem,
Durmaz Eser,
Tel Cigdem,
Gencturk Mert,
Ağırman Aysegul
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.1002/jum.14548
Subject(s) - medicine , brachial artery , endothelial dysfunction , cardiology , forearm , elastography , artery , occlusion , radiology , surgery , ultrasound , blood pressure
Objectives This study was designed to measure the changes in brachial artery wall stiffness by shear wave elastography (SWE) and evaluate the accuracy of SWE changes for detection of endothelial dysfunction. Methods Sixty‐five consecutive participants (19 patients with atherosclerosis proven by coronary angiography, 16 healthy young adults, 15 patients with cardiovascular risk factors, and 15 healthy older adults between 50 and 60 years) were prospectively included in this study. They were examined in the same week by SWE, and flow‐mediated dilatation was evaluated for each patient. Results The mean flow‐mediated dilatation values ± 2 SDs after forearm occlusion were 8.54% ± 1.4% in healthy young adults, 7.61% ± 1.4% in healthy older adults, 5.83% ± 0.7% in patients with risk factors ( P < .001), and 3.81% ± 2.4% in patients with atherosclerosis ( P < .001, with respect to the risk factor group). There was a significant decrease in stiffness measurements in parallel with the increase in flow‐mediated dilatation: 19.9% ± 6.3% in healthy young adults, 16.3% ± 5.1% in healthy older adults, 9.8% ± 5.4% in patients with risk factors ( P < .05 with respect to the group with no risk factors), and 7.8% ± 6.4% in patients with atherosclerosis ( P < .001 with respect to the healthy older adults). Conclusions Shear wave elastography in combination with flow‐mediated dilatation could be a promising, widely available noninvasive diagnostic tool for detecting endothelial dysfunction.