Introduction and Objective: Wall shear stress (WSS), the force exerted by blood flow on vessel walls, is considered an early indicator of atherosclerosis, as moderate WSS supports endothelial function. It has been reported that WSS is associated with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD). Traditional methods like MRI and computational fluid dynamics assess WSS but are impractical for routine use. Recently, vector flow mapping (VFM) by carotid echography has emerged as a simpler method to visualize blood flow and calculate WSS, providing a more accurate blood velocity distribution reflecting flow dynamics in vivo. VFM, combined with morphological evaluation such as intima-media thickness (IMT) assessment in carotid artery ultrasound, offers an approach for evaluating atherosclerosis in clinical practice. This study investigated the association between WSS using VFM during carotid artery ultrasound and atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).Methods: We measured WSS, IMT, and FMD (Flow-mediated dilation) using brachial artery echography within a few days in hospitalized patients with T2D. We also analyzed the relationship between WSS and atherosclerotic diseases.Results: In this study, 83 patients with T2D (51 men and 32 women, mean age = 67.6±11.7 years) were included. The mean HbA1c level was 8.3±1.5%. WSS and FMD were significantly positively correlated in simple correlation analyses (r=0.37, p=0.0006) and multiple regression analyses adjusted by age, gender, BMI, smoking status, HbA1c, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and IMT (β=0.34, p=0.004). WSS showed a significant negative association between IMT (r=-0.38, p= 0.0004) and age (r=-0.39, p=0.0003). Furthermore, WSS was notably lower in patients who had diabetic microangiopathy and heart failure.Conclusion: This study showed that WSS was significantly associated with FMD, suggesting that, carotid WSS may be a useful, simple method for evaluating the early stage of atherosclerosis.
Y.O. Ohata: None. K. Saito: None. R. Koezuka: None. T. Tamanaha: None. M. Noguchi: None. H. Makino: None.
Source link
Leave a Reply