Strong and Significant Relationships Between Aggregation of Major Coronary Risk Factors and the Acceleration of Carotid Atherosclerosis in the General Population of a Japanese City

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Abstract
WITH THE aid of high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography, we can evaluate early carotid atherosclerosis precisely and noninvasively. There is growing evidence that carotid arterial intimal-medial thickness (IMT) measured by B-mode ultrasonography has come to be used as a noninvasive end point in epidemiological studies and clinical trials to gauge progression and regression of atherosclerosis.1-8 Futhermore, its IMT has been used recently not only as a surrogate end point for atherosclerosis of the coronary artery but also as a good indicator of the presence and extent of coronary artery disease.9,10