Jin-Wook Chung
Background: Numerous studies have been published the correlation between plaque score (PS), mean carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), and the prevalence or complexity of coronary artery lesions in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. However, very few studies have reported the association between the complexity of coronary artery lesions and PS and the mean carotid artery IMT. We therefore aimed to examine the correlation between carotid artery ultrasound parameters and complexity of coronary artery lesions in CAD patients.
Methods: From June 2010 to December 2011, a total of 170 patients (118 males (69.4%); mean age, 63.9 ± 12.1 years) admitted with suspected CAD, were examined. Coronary angiography and IMT and PS in the carotid arteries ultrasound were obtained for all patients.
Results: The odds ratios related with the PS and the mean-CCA-IMT for the prediction of intermediate or high SYNTAX score were 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04–1.23; p=0.003) and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.02–22.29; p=NS), respectively. After adjustments for cardiovascular risk factors, genders, and age, PS only related to the presence of coronary arteries independently (odds ratio: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.06–1.24; p<0.001). To predict the intermediate or high SYNTAX score, the areas under the ROC curves for the PS and the mean-CCA-IMT were 0.698 (95% CI: 0.623-0.766; p<0.001) and 0.538 (95% CI: 0.460-0.614; p=0.207), respectively. The cut-off value for the PS of 3.9 presented a negative predictive value of 92.4% and a positive predictive value of 30.8%.
Conclusion: Carotid ultrasound parameters are capable of predicting the SYNTAX score. Furthermore, PS provided excellent negative predictive value for the complexity of coronary artery lesions.