1. Is there a correlation between the carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and the coronary artery calcium score (CACS) as predictors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD)?
- Author
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Ebaid, Noha Yahia, Mohamed Said, Asmaa Osama, Farouk Eltohamy, Manal, and El-Maghraby, Ahmed Mohamed
- Subjects
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CORONARY artery calcification , *CAROTID intima-media thickness , *CORONARY artery disease , *CAROTID artery , *CARDIOVASCULAR diseases - Abstract
Background: Coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) are important markers for early detection of coronary atherosclerosis. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between the CIMT and the CACS as markers for atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: This single-center prospective study enrolled 41 cases with suspected CAD. The cases underwent carotid artery US and CA noncontrast CT (NCCT). A radiologist with eight years of experience in vascular US imaging performed the carotid artery US, while two radiologists with ten years of experience in cardiac imaging analyzed the coronary artery CT images and assigned a CAC-DRS category for each case. We used the Pearson correlation test to calculate the correlation between CIMT and CACS. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to estimate the best cutoff value of CIMT in predicting CA heavy calcification. Results: The study included 41 cases of suspected CAD, of which 12-showed heavy, and 29 showed non-heavy CA calcification. The mean CACS was 163, and the highest CIMT was 0.785 mm among the included patients. There was a significant positive correlation between the CACS and the highest CIMT (r 0.606 and P <0.001). A CIMT > 0.8 mm was the best cutoff for predicting heavy calcification, with a sensitivity of 91.7%, a specificity of 65.5%, and an accuracy of 73.2% based on ROC curve analysis. Conclusions: CIMT and CACS can be considered non-invasive predictive measures for CA atherosclerosis and subsequent CAD. Moreover, these markers might help cardiologists in clinical management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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