A clinical marker for arterial wall healing: the double line

B-mode imaging of a normal arterial wall shows two echo-dense lines separated by an echolucent zone. Immediately after carotid endarterectomy, this double-line pattern is no longer detectable, but it subsequently reappears in some patients. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the postoperative double line is associated with a lower incidence of carotid restenosis.

Carotid arteries were serially studied with B-mode ultrasound imaging at 2 weeks and 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months after carotid endarterectomy. The wall of the common carotid artery 1 to 2 cm distal to the proximal endarterectomized shelf was analyzed for the presence, quality, and thickness of double lines. All hemodynamically significant stenoses (> or = 50% diameter reducing) were documented with standard duplex scanning criteria.

Twenty-four carotid arteries in 23 patients were studied for a mean of 14.7 months (range, 3 to 24 months). A double line developed in 21 common carotid arteries (87.5%) at a mean time of 3.2 months (range, 0.5 to 9.0 months) after surgery with a mean thickness of 0.65 mm (SD = 0.17 mm) at the time of initial detection. A single hemodynamically significant stenosis developed in this group. All three of the remaining arteries that did not form the double-line pattern developed hemodynamically significant stenoses. Carotid restenosis was more likely to occur in arteries that did not form double lines (p < 0.05, Fisher's exact test).

The majority of carotid arteries re-form a double line after endarterectomy. These arteries are less likely to develop restenotic lesions caused by myointimal hyperplasia.