Effect of Harmonic and Compound Imaging on Estimates of Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness

BackgroundCarotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) is a marker of atherosclerosis linked to cardiovascular outcomes. These outcome studies were made before advanced imaging techniques such as harmonic imaging (HI) and compound (CrossBeam) were available. We study the effects of these new imaging approaches on estimates of carotid artery IMT.Materials and MethodsA total of 26 subjects (44 common carotid arteries) with an average age of 49.3 years were imaged with fundamental imaging (FI) presets, HI, and compound imaging (CrossBeam; XB). Images were the evaluated with a commercially available edge detector. Comparisons of group means were made with analysis of variance and the Tukey-Kramer test. Associations with age were studied with linear regression analysis.ResultsMean values of carotid artery IMT of the common carotid far wall were different (p < 0.04) between groups (FI: 0.63 ± 0.09 mm; HI: 0.66 ± 0.16 mm; crossbeam imaging: 0.59 ± 0.13 mm). XB gave significantly lower IMT values than HI. XB IMT w...