Brick and mortar IMT core lab goes automated and online

Carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) of the carotid artery (common, bulb and internal carotid artery) is a surrogate marker for atherosclerosis and has been shown to predict increased cardiovascular risk of about 2-fold in studies in middle aged1 and older adults2,3 and across the age spectrum from childhood to old age.4 Unlike studies that evaluated intima media thickness (IMT) of multiple carotid segments and showed independent predictive ability of CIMT for cardiovascular risk, meta-analysis of studies with measurement of far wall of common carotid artery (CCA) IMT only (excluding internal carotid and bulb IMT) found that CCA IMT had minimal predictive ability for predicting incident cardiovascular risk over and above risk factors.5 Possible reasons are preciseness and comprehensiveness needed in measuring the thinner CCA IMT and mostly because plaque, which is a manifestation of atherosclerosis, generally does not develop in the CCA compared with the bulb and ICA, and even if plaque is present in the CCA, it is excluded in IMT measurements, as was done in the current study by Coffey et al.6 Figure 1 shows the ultrasound imaging assessment of carotid segments used in various IMT protocols.