Why the study?
Does ultrasound examination of carotid and femoral arteries improve cardiovascular risk stratification compared to traditional risk factors in low to moderate risk patients?
Does ultrasound examination of carotid and femoral arteries improve cardiovascular risk stratification compared to traditional risk factors in low to moderate risk patients?
Ultrasound assessment of carotid and femoral arteries may enhance cardiovascular risk stratification beyond traditional risk factors, particularly in patients considered to be at low to moderate risk.
Ultrasound may refine CV risk stratification in low-moderate risk patients; leaves open prospective validation before practice change.
More than a half of cardiovascular events occur in low to moderate cardiovascular risk patients if assessed based on the traditional risk factors. At the same time, ultrasound examination of arteries makes it possible to reveal atherosclerosis even at early stages of its development. High prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis in low to moderate risk patients, which is a realization of traditional and “unknown” risk factors, makes ultrasound examination a useful method for risk stratification. The review is focused on ultrasound markers of atherosclerosis with association to traditional risk factors, on the possibility to improve predictive role of current scores and influence on outcomes. Predictive significance of the markers is regarded for primary prevention in general population, in high risk persons and from the perspective of quantitative indicator of atherosclerotic lesion grade or plausibility as a surrogate cardiovascular diseases marker.
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Ершова et al. (2018) studied this question.
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