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The Assessment of Carotid Atherosclerosis Using a New Multipurpose Ultrasound Probe
Author(s) -
Evensen Kristin,
Dahl Arve,
Ronning Ole M.,
Russell David
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/jon.12105
Subject(s) - medicine , ultrasound , carotid arteries , stenosis , intraclass correlation , radiology , common carotid artery , cardiology , clinical psychology , psychometrics
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Multipurpose ultrasound probes combined with ultra‐mobile ultrasound instrumentation have the potential to increase the availability and use of ultrasound examinations in the assessment of atherosclerotic burden and cardiac disease. The aim of this study was to compare the agreement of a newly developed multipurpose probe to a standard linear carotid probe in detection of atherosclerosis of the precerebral arteries. METHODS We examined 103 patients with a multipurpose probe (General Electric, G9L MPP‐9 MHz) and a standard linear probe (General Electric, Vivid 7‐M12L‐14 MHz). Measurements included intima‐media thickness (IMT) in the common carotid arteries (CCA), carotid bifurcations (BIF), internal carotid arteries (ICA), and detection of carotid plaques and stenoses. RESULTS We found a significant level of agreement between the two probes for all IMT measurements with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of: left CCA .91, left BIF .68, left ICA .75, right CCA .84, right BIF .74, and right ICA .59. Agreement with regard to carotid plaque and stenosis detection had kappa values of .94 and .93. CONCLUSION The multipurpose probe showed agreement with a standard linear probe in detecting atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries and has therefore the potential for use in both cardiac and precerebral ultrasound examinations.