Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease

Arterial stiffness is an important measure of vascular aging and atherosclerosis. Though it is measured in many well-known epidemiologic cohort studies, arterial stiffness is often overlooked in routine clinical practice for a number of reasons including difficulties in measurement, variations in de...

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Autores principales: Baradaran, Hediyeh, Gupta, Ajay
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8964780/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35369341
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.852173
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author Baradaran, Hediyeh
Gupta, Ajay
author_facet Baradaran, Hediyeh
Gupta, Ajay
author_sort Baradaran, Hediyeh
collection PubMed
description Arterial stiffness is an important measure of vascular aging and atherosclerosis. Though it is measured in many well-known epidemiologic cohort studies, arterial stiffness is often overlooked in routine clinical practice for a number of reasons including difficulties in measurement, variations in definition, and uncertainties surrounding treatment. Central arterial stiffness, a surrogate for aortic stiffness, is the most commonly measured marker of arterial stiffness. In addition to central stiffness, there are also a number of ultrasound based techniques to measure local vascular stiffness, including carotid stiffness. There is evidence that both local carotid stiffness and central arterial stiffness measures are associated with multiple cerebrovascular processes, including stroke and cognitive dysfunction. Mechanistic explanations supporting this association include increased flow load experienced by the cerebral microvasculature leading to cerebral parenchymal damage. In this article, we review definitions of carotid artery stiffness measures and pathophysiologic mechanisms underpinning its association with plaque development and downstream cerebral pathology. We will review the evidence surrounding the association of carotid stiffness measures with downstream manifestations including stroke, cerebral small vessel disease detected on brain MR such as white matter hyperintensities and covert brain infarctions, brain atrophy, and cognitive dysfunction. With consistent definitions, measurement methods, and further scientific support, carotid stiffness may have potential as an imaging-based risk factor for stroke and cognitive decline.
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spelling pubmed-89647802022-03-31 Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease Baradaran, Hediyeh Gupta, Ajay Front Cardiovasc Med Cardiovascular Medicine Arterial stiffness is an important measure of vascular aging and atherosclerosis. Though it is measured in many well-known epidemiologic cohort studies, arterial stiffness is often overlooked in routine clinical practice for a number of reasons including difficulties in measurement, variations in definition, and uncertainties surrounding treatment. Central arterial stiffness, a surrogate for aortic stiffness, is the most commonly measured marker of arterial stiffness. In addition to central stiffness, there are also a number of ultrasound based techniques to measure local vascular stiffness, including carotid stiffness. There is evidence that both local carotid stiffness and central arterial stiffness measures are associated with multiple cerebrovascular processes, including stroke and cognitive dysfunction. Mechanistic explanations supporting this association include increased flow load experienced by the cerebral microvasculature leading to cerebral parenchymal damage. In this article, we review definitions of carotid artery stiffness measures and pathophysiologic mechanisms underpinning its association with plaque development and downstream cerebral pathology. We will review the evidence surrounding the association of carotid stiffness measures with downstream manifestations including stroke, cerebral small vessel disease detected on brain MR such as white matter hyperintensities and covert brain infarctions, brain atrophy, and cognitive dysfunction. With consistent definitions, measurement methods, and further scientific support, carotid stiffness may have potential as an imaging-based risk factor for stroke and cognitive decline. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-03-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8964780/ /pubmed/35369341 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.852173 Text en Copyright © 2022 Baradaran and Gupta. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Cardiovascular Medicine
Baradaran, Hediyeh
Gupta, Ajay
Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease
title Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease
title_full Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease
title_fullStr Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease
title_full_unstemmed Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease
title_short Carotid Artery Stiffness: Imaging Techniques and Impact on Cerebrovascular Disease
title_sort carotid artery stiffness: imaging techniques and impact on cerebrovascular disease
topic Cardiovascular Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8964780/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35369341
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2022.852173
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