Assessing Impact of High-Dose Pitavastatin on Carotid Artery Elasticity with Speckle-Tracking Strain Imaging

Figures

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  Fig. 1.. Flowchart of study subjects

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  Fig. 2.. Representative examples of measurements of CAS by speckle-tracking imaging

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  Fig. 3.. Plot of individual changes in carotid ultrasound variables by statin The individual changes in circumferential CAS (A), stiffness index (β2) (B), strain by B-mode ultrasound (C), and mean carotid IMT (D) after high-dose pitavastatin therapy. The dots and bars on the sides indicate means and standard deviations. CAS, carotid artery strain; IMT, intima–media thickness.

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  Fig. 4.. Plot of individual changes in speckle-tracking-derived carotid artery elasticity parameters according to 10 year ASCVD risk Note significant improvements in circumferential CAS and β2 by speckle-tracking imaging in patients with ASCVD risk ≥ 7.5% (A and B), which are not observed in patients with ASCVD risk <7.5% (C and D). The dots and bars on the sides indicate means and standard deviations. CAS, carotid artery strain; ASCVD, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

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  Supplemental Fig. 1.. Plot of individual changes in speckle-tracking-derived carotid artery elasticity parameters according to baseline LDL-C levels Note the effect of statin treatment on improvements in circumferential CAS and β2 was pronounced in patients with baseline LDL-C levels ≥ 190 mg/dL. CAS, carotid artery strain; LCL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

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  Fig. 5.. Bland–Altman analysis for circumferential CAS measurement Bland–Altman plots of intraobserver (A) and interobserver variabilities (B) for measurements of circumferential CAS by speckle-tracking method. The solid line is the mean difference between the two scans, whereas the limits of agreement are drawn as dashed lines (mean difference ± 2 SD). CAS, carotid artery strain; SD, standard deviation.