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Three-dimensional ultrasound measurements of carotid vessel wall and plaque thickness and their relationship with pulmonary abnormalities in ex-smokers without airflow limitation

The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging volume 32, pages 1391–1402 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

The relationship between carotid disease and modestly abnormal airflow in ex-smokers without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is not well-understood. We generated 3D ultrasound measurements of carotid vessel-wall-plus-plaque thickness (VWT) and vessel wall volume (VWV) to quantify and evaluate such carotid ultrasound measurements in ex- and never-smokers without airflow limitation. These patients did not fulfill the diagnostic criteria for COPD. We also investigated the relationship of carotid atherosclerosis with pulmonary phenotypes of COPD. We evaluated 61 subjects without a clinical diagnosis of pulmonary or vascular diseases including 34 never-smokers (72 ± 6 year) and 27 ex-smokers (73 ± 9 year). We measured mean VWT (\(\overline{VWT}\)) and mean VWT specific to carotid regions-of-interest (\({{\overline{VWT}}_{S}}\)) and evaluated potential differences between ex- and never-smokers. Carotid ultrasound and pulmonary disease measurement relationships were also evaluated using correlation coefficients (r) and multivariate regression analyses. Ex-smokers had a significantly greater \(\overline{VWT}\) (p = 0.003) and \({{\overline{VWT}}_{S}}\) (p < 0.00001) than never-smokers, whereas a significant difference between the two groups was not detected by VWV (p = 1.0). There were significant correlations between the ventilation defect percent (VDP) measured by MRI with \(\overline{VWT}\) (r = 0.42, p = 0.001) and \({{\overline{VWT}}_{S}}\) (r = 0.56, p = 0.00001). Multivariate regression models showed that VDP significantly predicted \(\overline{VWT}\) (β = 0.38, p = 0.004) and \({{\overline{VWT}}_{S}}\) (β = 0.50, p = 0.00001). VWT-based measurements detected differences in vessel-wall-plus-plaque burden in ex- and never-smokers, which were not revealed using VWV. There were significant correlations between cardiovascular and pulmonary disease biomarkers in these ex-smokers who did not have a clinical diagnosis of pulmonary or carotid disease.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Chiu is grateful for funding support from the Research Grant Council of the HKSAR, China (Project No. CityU 139713) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81201149). Dr. Parraga gratefully acknowledges funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Operating grants and New Investigator award as well as the Canadian Respiratory Research Network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Jieyu Cheng, Tommy W. S. Chow & Bernard Chiu

  2. Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada

    Damien Pike & Grace Parraga

  3. Heart and Lung Institute, St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Miranda Kirby

  4. Department of Medical Biophysics, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Grace Parraga

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  1. Jieyu Cheng
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Correspondence to Bernard Chiu.

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Cheng, J., Pike, D., Chow, T.W.S. et al. Three-dimensional ultrasound measurements of carotid vessel wall and plaque thickness and their relationship with pulmonary abnormalities in ex-smokers without airflow limitation. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 32, 1391–1402 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-016-0931-z

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