The Utility of Carotid Ultrasonography in Identifying Severe Coronary Artery Disease in Asymptomatic Type 2 Diabetic Patients Without History of Coronary Artery Disease

OBJECTIVE: Although many studies have shown that carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), it remains inconclusive whether assessment of carotid IMT is useful as a screening test for asymptomatic but severe CAD in diabetic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 333 asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients without history of CAD underwent exercise electrocardiogram or myocardial perfusion scintigraphy for detection of silent myocardial ischemia, and those whose test results were positive were subjected to coronary computed tomography angiography or coronary angiography. The ability of carotid IMT to identify severe CAD corresponding to treatment with revascularization was examined by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. RESULTS: Among the 333 subjects, 17 were treated with revascularization. A multiple logistic regression analysis showed that maximum IMT was an independent predictor of severe CAD even after adjustment for conventional risk factors. ROC curve analyses revealed that the addition of maximum IMT to conventional risk factors significantly improved the prediction ability for severe CAD (from area under the curve, 0.67 to 0.79; P = 0.039). The greatest sensitivity and specificity were obtained when the cut-off value of maximum IMT was set at 2.45 mm (pretest probability, 5%; posttest probability, 11%; sensitivity, 71%). When we applied age-specific cut-off values, the sensitivity of screening further increased in both the nonelderly (pretest probability, 6%; posttest probability, 10%; sensitivity, 100%) and the elderly subjects (pretest probability, 5%; posttest probability, 15%; sensitivity, 100%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that carotid maximum IMT is useful for screening asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients with severe CAD equivalent to revascularization.