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Assessment of the common carotid artery wall stiffness by Shear Wave Elastography in Behcet's disease
Deniz Alis1, Emine Sebnem Memis Durmaz2, Ceren Civcik3
1Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Department of Radiology, KMPasa, Istanbul, Turkey.. drdenizalis@gmail.com.
Insights
Behcet
Area of Science:
- Vascular Medicine
- Rheumatology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory condition that can affect various organs, including blood vessels.
- Endothelial dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis are known complications in BD, increasing cardiovascular risk.
- Current methods for assessing these complications may not fully capture the early stages of vascular damage.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate endothelial dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis in Behcet's disease patients.
- To measure common carotid artery (CCA) wall stiffness and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in BD patients.
- To evaluate the utility of shear wave elastography (SWE) in assessing arterial stiffness in BD.
Main Methods:
- A prospective study involving 34 Behcet's disease patients and 28 age/sex-matched healthy controls.
- Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) was measured using B-mode ultrasound.
- Common carotid artery (CCA) wall stiffness was assessed using shear wave elastography (SWE), measuring shear wave velocity (SWV) in m/s.
Main Results:
- Patients with Behcet's disease exhibited significantly higher mean CIMT in both right and left carotid arteries compared to controls (p=0.001 and p=0.003).
- Mean CCA wall stiffness (SWV) was significantly elevated in BD patients compared to controls for both right and left arteries (p<0.001).
- These findings indicate increased arterial stiffness and intima-media thickening in Behcet's disease patients.
Conclusions:
- Shear wave elastography (SWE) shows promise in evaluating endothelial dysfunction by assessing arterial stiffness in Behcet's disease.
- SWE may serve as a valuable adjunct to existing clinical, laboratory, and imaging methods for cardiovascular risk assessment in BD.
- SWE evaluation of arterial stiffness could enhance understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying Behcet's disease.
Aim:
To evaluate endothelial dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis in Behcet's disease (BD) by measuring the common carotid artery (CCA) wall stiffness and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT).
Materials And Methods:
We prospectively evaluated CIMT and the CCA wall stiffness of 34 BD patients and 28 age/sex-matched controls. CIMT measurements were performed from the posterior wall of the carotid artery approximately 10 mm proximal to the initiation of the carotid bulb using B-mode ultrasound. The stiffness of the CCA was measured from the superficial wall of the CCA using shear wave elastography (SWE). SWE measurements were recorded as shear wave velocity (SWV) using m/s as a unit.
Results:
The mean right (0.5±0.11 mm) and left (0.5±0.14 mm) CIMT of the patients were significantly higher compared to the mean right (0.41±0.07 mm) and left (0.41±0.11 mm) CIMT of the healthy controls (p=0.001 and p= 0.003 respectively). The mean right (3.72±0.94 m/s) and left (3.57±0.72 m/s) CCA wall stiffness of the patients were significantly higher compared to the mean right (2.42±0.49 m/s) and left (2.56±0.49 m/s) CCA wall stiffness of the controls (p<0.001 for both).
Conclusions:
SWE seems to be a promising modality to evaluate endothelial dysfunction in BD by interpreting the arterial stiffness, and SWE might be an important adjunct to clinical and laboratory findings, and imaging modalities to assess cardiovascular risk in BD. Moreover, SWE evaluation of the arterial stiffness might assist us to understand pathophysiological aspects of BD.