| IntroductionAtherosclerosis is a systemic obstructive artery disease which may cause severe organ damage. There is a new method to assess atherosclerotic changes in peripheral large and medium-sized arteries with high-resolution B-mode ultrasound. Most epidemiological studies and clinical trials have used this technique to assecement atherosclerosis because the major advantage of this method. It is a completely noninvasive, accurate, readily applicable and reproducible method. Carotid and Femoral arteries are commonly used because they have advantages in being close to the skin surface and being relatively parallel to it, and the visualization of the vascular structurs can clearly be imaged by high-resolution B-mode ultrasound. There are two major ultrasonic signals of carotid and femoral artery atherosclerosis: increased intima-media thickness (IMT) and atheromatous plaque formation. However, plaque formation is largely a result of intima thickness. At present, ultrasonic signals of carotid artery is frequently used in studying atherosclerosis with coronary artery disease(CAD). The femoral artery is a predominantly muscular-type artery, but the ultrasonic signals of femoral artery is seldom focused on in studying atherosclerosis with CAD. At the present study we measured the common carotid and femoral artery IMT and semi-quantified their atheromatous plaque grade, as well as measured the angiographic extent of CAD; the aim of the study was to examine the association betwean peripheral arteries atherosclerosis and CAD; the predictive value of ultrasonic signals of carotid and femoral artery atherosclerosis for the extent and severity of CAD.Patients and Methods Patients Entry CharacteristicsBetween March and November 2001, 91 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography for assessmen of chest pain, angina, or myocardial infarction were referred to our institution. Subjects with a history of coronary angioplasty, coronary artery bypass grafting, and carotid or femoral artery surgery were excluded from the study. According to coronary angiography, enrolling in the study, subjects with normal coronary' arteries is in 39 patients (30 men and 9 women, mean age 61 ? years), subjects with coronary arter\ disease is in 52 patients (40 men and 12 women, mean age 62 ? years). Study Design Clinical examinationA simple-blind and case-control study was performed, subjects with normal coronary arteries were defined as control group. Patients underwent a baseline clinical examination as well as medical history in order to evaluate the presence of the most important risk factor (smoking, hypertension. Body mass index, and family history of CAD).In all subjects a fasting blood sample was collected for analysis of the following biochemical parameters using standard techniques:total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). lipoprotein(a), glucose, uric acid, and C-reactive protein. Ultrasonographic imagingB-mode Ultrasonographic examination was performed in all patients within 1 week of coronary angiography using a L12-5MHz linear array transducer (ATL HDL5000). All scans were performed by the same operator who was unware of the clinical materiels. Scanning left and right carotid and femoral arteries, the carotid artery image included 3 segments: the distal 1 .Ocm of the common carotid artery proximal to the bifurcation, the carotid bulb, and the proximal 1.0 cm of the internal and external carotid artery; the femoral artery image also included 3 segments: the2 cm femoral artery proximal to the bifurcation, the femoral artery bulb, and the proximal 1.0 cm of the profunda femoris artery and the superfical femoris artery. The IMT of carotid artery is focused on the far wall of the distal 1.0 cm of the common carotid proximal to bifurcation; the IMT of femoral artery is focused on the far wall of 1.5 cm of the femoral artery proximal to bifurcation. Plaques were regarded as discrete thickness of at le...
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