Brachial artery diameter measurement: a tool to simplify non-invasive vascular assessment.
Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis
; 22(1): 8-13, 2012 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22176922
ABSTRACT
AIM:
The mechanisms of vascular remodeling have attracted great interest since it is a phenomenon related to cardiovascular diseases. We would like to examine studies that contributed to clarify the remodeling mechanisms, to explore the different faces of atherosclerosis process. DATASYNTHESIS:
A number of invasive and non-invasive vascular assessment methods were developed, to detect the early sign of atherosclerosis. It became clear that the invasive tests were not applicable to large-scale studies. Consequently, a non-invasive test was developed. Studies showed that the endothelial function evaluation is a predictor of future cardiac events in individuals at cardiovascular risk and in those with established disease. However, analyzing several works, an interesting concept emerged, i.e., the inverse relation between endothelium-dependent dilation and vessel size, since large vessel tend not to dilate significantly. This notion emphasized the role of basal diameter on vascular response. In particular, as brachial artery diameter is the measure on which FMD is based, it could add more information in clinical evaluation, simplifying the assessment. Several studies showed that morphological change of brachial artery is a better indicator of the extent of coronary disease rather than FMD. Other studies showed that brachial diameter has predictive significance in the stratification of cardiovascular risk.CONCLUSION:
Brachial diameter is a useful and simple tool. It should be incorporated into the overall assessment of cardiovascular risk but further studies are warranted to determine the final place of brachial diameter assessment in routine clinical setting.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Artéria Braquial
/
Doença das Coronárias
/
Aterosclerose
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis
Assunto da revista:
ANGIOLOGIA
/
CARDIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO
/
METABOLISMO
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália