Carotid artery ultrasonographic measurment and clinical value in the elderly patients with hypertension

Objective Objective To study the status of atherosclerosis in elderly patients with hypertension and to evaluate the value of carotid artery ultrasonographic in hypertensive patients.Methods Carotid artery bores, intima-media thickness (IMT) and the plaque were measured in 120 elderly patients with hypertension and then compared with 45 controls.Results The occurrence rates of carotid artery bores, IMT and plaques were higher in the hypertensive patients than those of the controls. There were significant changes in carotid IMT among different degree of hypertension(p0.05). The higher the degree of hypertension, the thicker the carotid IMT.Conclusion Incrassation of artery IMT is the early character of atherosclerosis. The increasing of the blood pressure is one of the important reasons to cause the carotid IMT changes in patients with hypertension. Carotid ultrasonography has important meaning for prevention and treatment of hypertension and its cerebrovasculas complications.