MEDICINSKI GLASNIK

44
Medicinski Glasnik, Volumen 9, Number 1, February 2012
Figure 1. The illustration of measurement of aortic flow
propagation velocty in descending aorta (AV, aortic valve; TA,
transverse aorta; LSCA, left subclavian artery; LCA, left carotid
artery; RCA, right carotid artery; RSCA, right subclavian artery)
(Uzun M., 2005)
was adjusted to 40-50 cm/sec. On this recording,
the slope of the first aliasing contour was measured.
(Figure 2A and 2B). The average of 8-10
consecutive measurements was accepted as Vp.
A)
B)
Figure 2. (A) Aortic flow propagation velocity in a normal
patient, (B) Aortic flow propagation of a patient with high risk
(Uzun M., 2005)
The peak velocity of blood at the proximal descending
aorta was measured at the same view and
location with pulsed wave Doppler.
The carotid IMT. Firstly, the common carotid artery
was found in transverse section. Afterwards,
the carotid artery was viewed in longitudinal section.
The probe was displaced cranially until the
internal carotid artery is viewed in its maximum
diameter. The IMT was defined as the distance
between the first echogenic line (lumen-intimal
intersection) and second echogenic line (media-adventitia
intersection). All measurements
were performed in enddiastole (peak of R wave
in ECG). In each patient, the IMT was measured
six times from distal part of the lumen in two segments:
common carotid and internal carotid artery.
The maximum value was used in the analysis.
All views were recorded in digital media in order
to provide a second investigator blind to the other
findings to perform the same measurements.
Statistical analysis
For statistical analysis, the SPSS version 13.0 in
Windows (Chicago, USA) was used. The continuous
variables were expressed as mean±1 standard
deviation. The comparison among more than
two groups was made by nonparametric Kruskal-
Wallis test. The comparison between two groups
was made by Mann-Whitney U test. The comparison
between two parameters were made by
linear regression analysis. The significance of p
value was set at 0.05.
RESULTS
Twelve patients were excluded from the analysis
due to poor acoustic window, therefore the
statistical analysis included 108 patients (90%)
(52 female; age=52±9 years). The comparison
of categorical variables is shown in Table 1 and
continuous variables in Table 2. Among the categorical
variables, the coronary artery disease
and diabetes mellitus was significantly higher
Table 1. The comparison of categorical variables
Parameter Group I Group II Group III p
Male gender 13 10 29 0.414
Smoking 5 8 13 0.074
Diabetes mellitus 2 0 12 0.038
Family history 4 0 10 0.074
Coronary artery disease 0 0 18 0.000