Correlation among brachial endothelium dysfunction,carotid atherosclerosis and coronary atherosclerosis in patients with coronary artery disease

Objective:To investigate the correlation among brachial endothelium dysfunction,carotid atherosclerosis and coronary atherosclerosis in patients with coronary artery disease(CAD).Methods:Two-dimensional echocardiography(2-DE)was used to measure the brachial artery inner diameter [fore endothelium dependant(FMD)and endothelium no-dependant diastolic-systolic function(NMD)] and intimate media thickness(IMT)and plague of carotid arteries in 106 CAD patients who had been examined by coronary angiography.Carotid plaque score was calculated using Sutton's method to quantify the extent of carotid atheroasclerosis.The brachial endothelium function,carotid atheroclerosis and coronary atherosclerosis of CAD patients were analyzed and compared.The 40 normal persons who had been examined by coronary angiography were regard as normal control group.Results:Endothelium dependant vascular diastolic-systolic function significantly decreased in CAD group as compared with control group(P0.01);while endothelium no-dependant diastolic-systolic function was no significant difference in two groups(P0.05).The carotid intimate media thickness and carotid plaque score significantly increased in CAD group than those in control group(P0.01).There was negative correlation between FMD and coronary lesion(r=-0.651,P0.001).There were positive correlation among IMI,plague of carotid arteries and coronary lesion(r=0.871,0.702,P0.001).Conclusion:Endothelium dysfunction and carotid atherosclerosis are parallel with coronary atherosclerosis.