Assessment of atherosclerotic arterial changes in the carotid artery with noninvasive ultrasound.

Atherosclerotic changes of the carotid tree comprise changes of the wall structure, the wall stiffness, and local blood flow properties. They are associated with atherosclerotic changes in other arterial beds such as the coronary and cerebral arteries and with manifest atherosclerotic diseases. It has also been shown that they are at least in part potent predictors for future cardiovascular disease. Transcutaneous ultrasound of the carotid tree offers the possibility of detecting atherosclerotic changes on a noninvasive basis. In the following, the different methods for the assessment of atherosclerotic changes of the carotid wall structure, wall stiffness, and local hemodynamics with noninvasive ultrasound are briefly reviewed. The combined assessment of all these arterial properties may increase the predictive value of non-invasive ultrasound in detecting early atherosclerosis in other arterial beds. However, more prospective studies are necessary to examine the possible value of increased wall stiffness, altered local hemodynamics, and the combined assessment of these parameters together with the assessment of arterial wall structure in this respect. Therefore, the current ultrasound methods for the measurement of structure, function, and hemodynamics has yet to be optimized for usage in routine medical examinations.