Association of superficial femoral artery (SFA) and carotid artery intima-media thicknesses (IMT): An ultrasound assessment
By Amjad Assiri, Imperial College London
Objective
Carotid and superficial femoral artery (SFA) intima-media thicknesses (IMT) have emerged as valuable noninvasive measures to assess subclinical atherosclerosis. This study investigates the association of carotid and SFA ITM as SFA is mostly affected by peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
Methods
A pilot observational study was conducted on patients with clinical symptoms of peripheral arterial disease, using an ultrasound assessment of carotid artery and SFA IMT. The research involved scanning of the carotid artery and SFA IMT in 18 patients and 12 control individuals with no known arterial disease, where the peak systolic velocity, IMT, diameters of both arteries, and end diastolic velocity of carotid artery were recorded. Age, gender, risk factors, and Body Mass Index were collected as demographic data.
Results
30 individuals (14 females and 16 males) were included in this study with age ranges from 21-78 years. Patients undergoing medicinal treatment, hypertension, and those who led sedentary lifestyles demonstrated greater influence on SFA IMT. The means of carotid artery IMT and the SFA IMT were 0.54 ± 0.28 mm and 0.74 ± 0.35 mm respectively, indicating a statistically significant difference (P<0.001). This suggests that SFA is more affected by PAD than the carotid artery. This would make SFA IMT a more sensitive surrogate marker of the presence of arterial disease.
Conclusions
The data from this study suggest that SFA IMT is a more sensitive surrogate marker of the presence of arterial disease than traditional carotid IMT measurement. Further investigation with a larger sample size is recommended to corroborate this finding. The results of this study could help to enhance the current diagnostic method for PAD.