Different Patterns of Longitudinal Displacement of the Common Carotid Artery Wall in Healthy Humans Are Stable Over a Four-Month Period

• Published in: Ultrasound in medicine & biology Vol. 38; no. 6; pp. 916 - 925
• Main Authors: Ahlgren, Åsa Rydén, Cinthio, Magnus, Persson, Hans W., Lindström, Kjell
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.06.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Analysis of Variance; Arterial wall; Axial displacement; Biological and medical sciences; carotid arteries; Carotid artery; Carotid Artery, Common - diagnostic imaging; Carotid Artery, Common - physiology; Clinical Medicine; Common carotid artery; correlation; Female; gender; Heart; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Klinisk medicin; Longitudinal displacement; Longitudinal movement; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Radiologi och bildbehandling; Radiology; Radiology and Medical Imaging; Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging; Radiotherapy. Instrumental treatment. Physiotherapy. Reeducation. Rehabilitation, orthophony, crenotherapy. Diet therapy and various other treatments (general aspects); Reproducibility of Results; Software; Ultrasonics; Ultrasonography; Ultrasound; Longitudinal movement; Axial displacement; Longitudinal displacement; Arterial wall; Common carotid artery; Ultrasound; Human; Motion; Nuclear medicine; Common carotid; Radiology; Vascular wall; Biomedical engineering
• ISSN: 0301-5629; 1879-291X; 1879-291X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2012.02.005

Using an in-house developed ultrasonic method, we have shown that there is distinct longitudinal multiphasic displacement of the human common carotid artery (CCA) wall during the cardiac cycle. Different subjects showed markedly different patterns of displacement. At present, it is not known if the pattern of displacement in an individual is stable over time. Therefore, in this study, we measured the longitudinal displacement of the right CCA in 10 healthy humans at two different occasions 4 months apart. The basic pattern of longitudinal displacement for an individual was highly stable, including intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.88 for the ratio between the first antegrade and the retrograde displacement, and ICC of 0.76 for the magnitude of the first antegrade displacement. The stable basic pattern of displacement showed marked differences among subjects, also of the same age and gender. Further studies are needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms, the physiologic, pathophysiologic and clinical implications of this phenomenon.