Detection of subclinical atherosclerosis in asymptomatic subjects using ultrasound radiofrequency-tracking technology

Lili Niu; Yanling Zhang; Long Meng; Yang Xiao; Kelvin K L Wong; Derek Abbott; Hairong Zheng; Rongqin Zheng; Ming Qian

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111926

Detection of subclinical atherosclerosis in asymptomatic subjects using ultrasound radiofrequency-tracking technology

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 4;9(11):e111926. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111926. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Lili Niu¹, Yanling Zhang², Long Meng¹, Yang Xiao¹, Kelvin K L Wong³, Derek Abbott³, Hairong Zheng¹, Rongqin Zheng², Ming Qian¹

Affiliations

¹ Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
² Department of Ultrasound, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Centre for Biomedical Engineering, and School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.

Abstract

Objective: Atherosclerosis is a chronic and systemic disease and its developmental process involves the synergism of multiple risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity and smoking. The diagnosis of subclinical atherosclerosis is essential for strategic guidance towards suitable treatments and efficient prevention against acute cardiovascular events. This study employed ultrasound radiofrequency (RF) tracking technology to characterize human carotid arteries in vivo in terms of intima-media thickness (IMT) and artery stiffness, and evaluated the statistical correlation between carotid IMT and stiffness, and the number of risk factors for atherosclerosis.

Methods: A total of 160 asymptomatic subjects were enrolled. Ultrasound RF-tracking technology was employed to acquire carotid IMT and stiffness parameters: maximum IMT ((MAX)IMT), RF Quality IMT ((RF)QIMT), distensibility coefficient (DC), compliance coefficient (CC), αindex, β index and local pulse wave velocity (PWVβ). The subjects were categorized in four groups in terms of the number of risk factors: 'zero', 'single', 'double', and 'multiple', and statistical analyses of carotid IMT and stiffness parameters were performed between these different groups.

Results: The subjects (n = 145) with (MAX)IMT smaller than 1.0 mm matched the IMT criteria for non-atherosclerosis and were named as NA-subjects. Spearman's rho correlation analysis of the whole group and the NA-subjects both showed that (MAX)IMT correlated positively with (RF)QIMT, α, β, and PWVβ, and negatively with DC and CC (p<0.01). The analysis of covariance of NA-subjects showed significant differences between subjects with and without risk factors, and also showed significant differences between the 'zero', 'single', 'double', and 'multiple' groups.

Conclusions: The carotid IMT and stiffness parameters obtained by the ultrasound RF-tracking technology were demonstrated to possess significant statistical correlation with the number of risk factors from 160 subjects, and these anatomical and mechanical parameters may potentially be used together with the IMT criteria to support subclinical atherosclerosis diagnosis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Asymptomatic Diseases
Atherosclerosis / diagnostic imaging*
Atherosclerosis / pathology
Carotid Intima-Media Thickness
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pulse Wave Analysis
Risk Factors
Vascular Stiffness
Young Adult

Associated data

Dryad/10.5061/dryad.3G1H2

Grants and funding

The work was supported by National Research Program (973 Grant Nos. 2011CB707903 and 2013CB733800) from Ministry of Science and Technology, China, and National Science Foundation Grants (NSFC Grant Nos. 11325420, 11302239, 11304341, 61020106008, 11002152, 11272329, 61002001, and S2013040014610). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.