Application of velocity vector imaging to evaluate changes of wall elasticity of diabetic patients with carotid artery ;plaque

NIU Huimin; XUE Hongyuan; LIU Xin; YU Mingyue; SUN Li

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1671-6450.2014.09.013

Abstract：Objective To evaluate changes of vascular wall motion mechanics of diabetic patients with carotid plaques applying the velocity vector imaging ( VVI) .Methods The research applied VVI in diabetes group ( patients with ca-rotid artery plaque, 30 cases) and normal control group (30 cases) to make retrospective analysis, which analyzed the long axis plane wall motion vector graph , reconstructed the parameters of the ion of 3D graph, and computed its maximum tangen-tial velocity (Vs), maximum tangential strain (Smax) and maximum tangential strain rate (SRmax).Vascular walls in upstream and downstream shoulders of the carotid artery plaque and beneath the fibrous cap were taken to measure the maximum tangen -tial velocity (Vs), maximum tangential strain (Smax) and maximum tangential strain rate (SRmax).Results In the diabetes group, the curve of tangential velocity , strain, and strain rate time of wall in carotid artery plaque changed significantly, while the peak changed irregularly , and the Smax of wall sites were not synchronized;the Vs[(15.22 ±11.50) ×102 cm/s], Smax [(12.66 ±1.01)%] and SRmax[(0.25 ±0.24)/s] of carotid artery were significantly lower than the normal control group [(30.32 ±10.24) ×10 -2 cm/s], Smax [(4.49 ±1.34)%] and SRmax [(0.62 ±0.34)/s] ( P <0.05).The velocity of walls in shoulder was the maximum , while the velocity of walls beneath the fibrous cap was the minimum , the strain and strain rate of wall in upstream and downstream shoulders of the carotid artery plaque was significantly higher than the ones beneath fi -brous cap ( P <0.05).Conclusion The wall motion in carotid atherosclerotic plaques is asynchronous , VVI can be applied to evaluate the wall motion of carotid artery of diabetic patients with vascular remodeling and the stability of the plaques .