Evaluation of carotid artery atherosclerosis in patients with essential hypertension by ultrasound

Objective To explore the value of ultrasonography in measuring carotid artery morphology,physiology and the change of hemodynamic indexes in patients with different stages of essential hypertension.Methods One hundred and twenty patients with essential hypertension were divided into three groups according to hypertension level:grade 1,grade 2 and grade 3 hypertension.Each of the three groups and the control group had 40 cases.The carotid artery morphology,physiology and bemodynamic indexes were respectively measured.Results Compared with the control group,distension coefficient(Dc) and compliance coefficient(Cc) were decreased,while artery wall stiffness(β) was increased in grade 1 hypertension group, there was significant difference between the two groups(P0.05);Compared with grade 1 hypertension group,intima-media thickness(IMT) of both the carotid artery trunks and carotid sinus was thickening,the incidence of plaque was increased,Peak systolic velocity(PSV),end diastolic velocity(EDV),time average velocity mean(TAVM) and mean velocity(MV) were decreased in grade 2 and grade 3 hypertension group(P0.05).Conclusion Dc,Cc andβcan be used as the early indexes of physiology in evaluating carotid atherosclerosis in patients with essential hypertension.With the grade of hypertension increasing,IMT and plaque detection rate can be used as indexes for evaluation of morphology,and PSV,EDV,TAVM and MV can be used as indexes for evaluation of hemodynamic.