The movement of the common carotid artery (CCA) vessel wall has been well accepted as one important indicator of atherosclerosis, but it is still one challenge to estimate the motion of vessel wall from ultrasound images. In this paper, a robust H∞ filter was incorporated with block matching (BM) method to estimate the motion of carotid arterial wall. The performance of our method was compared ...

OBJECTIVE Chest wall vibrations are commonly used techniques that remain largely unquantified. In order to understand their effects, it is essential to measure the forces applied and their repeatability over time. This study investigated the repeatability of vibrations within and between test occasions. DESIGN Test-retest repeatability study. PARTICIPANTS Eight physiotherapists applied vibr...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE This article describes the prevalence of extracranial carotid atherosclerosis assessed by ultrasonography, its association with risk factors, and its relation to symptomatic coronary disease and stroke in men and women aged > or = 65 years. METHODS Maximum percent stenosis, maximum common carotid artery wall thickness, and maximum internal carotid artery wall thickness ...

Background and Purpose: This article describes the prevalence of extracranial carotid atherosclerosis assessed by ultrasonography, its association with risk factors, and its relation to symptomatic coronary disease and stroke in men and women aged >65 years. Methods: Maximum percent stenosis, maximum common carotid artery wall thickness, and maximum internal carotid artery wall thickness were a...

PURPOSE To determine the extent of thickening of the carotid arterial walls that may be accommodated by outward remodeling. MATERIALS AND METHODS Institutional review board approval was obtained at each participating site, and informed consent was obtained from each participant. All study sites conducted this study in compliance with HIPAA requirements. A total of 2066 participants (age range...

BACKGROUND Arterial stiffness is an early marker of atherosclerosis. The carotid arteries are easily accessible by ultrasound and are commonly used for the evaluation of atherosclerosis development. However, this stiffness assessment is based on the elastic properties of the artery, which may be influenced by the adjacent internal jugular vein (IJV). The aim of the present study is to evaluate ...

Differences between central aortic root (c) and peripheral (p) systolic blood pressure (SBP) may be particularly marked in children, but noninvasive methods for assessing cSBP in children have not been validated. We compared estimates of cSBP obtained from radiofrequency ultrasound wall tracking of the carotid artery (ART.LAB system) with that measured directly by a catheter in the aortic root ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although it is known that smoking is associated with an increase in arterial wall thickness, most studies have been performed in heterogeneous groups of older age, already suffering from atherosclerotic diseases or having additional cardiovascular risk factors. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect on arterial wall thickness of the carotid and femoral artery i...

Diabetes is associated with a reduction of arterial distensibility. Limited information exists regarding whether or how early this appears in the course of the disease. We studied 54 normoglycemic, normotensive, healthy offspring of 2 parents with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 55 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. Carotid diastolic diameter and systodiastolic change were measured by ...

OBJECTIVE We sought to determine differences with cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the morphology and composition of the carotid arteries between individuals with angiographically-defined obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD, > or = 50% stenosis, cases) and those with angiographically normal coronaries (no lumen irregularities, controls). METHODS AND RESULTS 191 participants (50...