Objective: To investigate the relationship between atherosclerosis of carotid arteries and coronary arteries.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional case control study and 100 patients took part in it. All participants underwent angiography to determine if they had coronary stenosis. Fifty angiography positive patients were selected as case and 50 angiography negative served as control. With a 7 MH probe, intima media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries was measured by B-mode songraphy. IMT over 1 mm was considered as significant atherosclerosis. stenotic lesion over 50% of cross sectional surface of any coronary vesselse was defined as significant coronary stenosis
Results: Of 50 patient with significant stenosis in one or more coronary arteries, 38 had carotid IMT over 1 mm. Of fifty normal coronary individuals, 10 had carotid arteries thicker than 1 mm. Chi square test shows a significant difference between case and control groups. The relative risk of coronary heart disease for persons, who had carotid IMT over 1 mm at carotid sonography, was 3.43 (CI 95% 4.75-2.47) Conclusion: Carotid Intima-media tkickness over 1 mm increases the risk of signficant coronary artery disease (RR=3.43). (Rawal Med J 2008;33:59-61).
Key words: Carotid, atherosclerosis, intima, media.
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