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Ultrasonography May Predict Heart Attack Risk NEW YORK -- August 19, 2008 -- Study results appearing in the September 2008 edition of Radiology suggest that serial ultrasonography examinations may help identify patients who are at high risk of heart attack or other adverse cardiovascular events. Lead researcher Markus Reiter, MD, Department of Angiography and Interventional Radiology at Medical University, Vienna, Austria, and colleagues performed ultrasonography on the carotid arteries of 1,268 patients who were asymptomatic but at high risk of cardiovascular disease. They also used computer-assisted grey scale median (GSM) measurements to determine the density of the plaque lining the carotid arteries. They found that ultrasonography helped determined that 574 patients had carotid artery disease. Each of these patients had a second ultrasonography examination 6 to 9 months later to measure changes in the plaque that lined the arteries. Follow-up ultrasonography revealed that GSM levels had decreased in 230 of the patients (40%). Of those, 85 patients (37%) experienced a major adverse cardiovascular event within 3 years of the second ultrasonography examination. In 344 of the patients (60%), ultrasonography GSM levels had increased between the baseline and follow-up ultrasonography examinations. Of those patients, 92 (28%) experienced a major adverse cardiovascular event. The authors note that the results of this study show that vulnerable plaque in the carotid artery was not only an indicator of increased risk of stroke downstream from the carotid artery, but it also was associated with disease progression elsewhere in the cardiovascular system. "Patients with a reduction in GSM levels from their baseline [ultrasonography] to the follow-up [ultrasonography] exhibited a significantly increased risk for near-future adverse event compared to patients with increasing GSM levels," said Dr. Reiter. Although additional studies are needed, Dr. Reiter said that measuring GSM levels on serial ultrasonography examinations may be a noninvasive way to identify the presence of vulnerable plaques and improve the effectiveness of therapeutic strategies. SOURCE: Radiology E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version