BACKGROUND In human medicine, local and regional arterial wall stiffness (AWS) parameters are routinely used to assess the vascular health. In horses, information regarding reproducibility of ultrasonographically derived AWS parameters is lacking. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the inter-day and inter-observer and intra-observer measurement variability of both local and regional AWS parameters in horses. STUDY DESIGN Experimental study. METHODS In 10 healthy, adult Warmblood horses, B-, M-mode and pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasound images were collected on two different days from aorta, cranial and caudal common carotid arteries and external iliac artery. Heart rate and noninvasive blood pressure were recorded simultaneously. From blinded data, diastolic and systolic vessel lumen areas and diameters were measured from B/M-mode images and the velocity of the pressure wave was determined by pulsed-wave Doppler spectra. From each horse, one examination was measured again by the same observer and by a second, independent observer. Local and regional AWS parameters were calculated and inter-day and inter-observer and intra-observer measurement coefficient of variation (CV) were assessed. RESULTS Low CV was found for both arterial diameter and lumen area measurements. Moderate to high CV was found for local AWS parameters, while regional AWS parameters had low CV. MAIN LIMITATIONS The number of horses investigated was too low to obtain reference values. The inter-operator variability was not evaluated. CONCLUSIONS Our results show good reproducibility of aortic, carotid and external iliac artery diameter and area measurements using both B- and M-mode ultrasonography. Nevertheless, the variability of the derived local AWS parameters was relatively high. Therefore, local AWS parameters might be less suitable for follow-up studies, although they might be useful for population studies. On the other hand, regional AWS parameters showed low CV, making them valuable for both follow-up and population studies.

中文翻译：

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马的主动脉、颈总动脉和髂外动脉动脉壁刚度参数：日间和观察者间以及观察者内测量变异性。

背景技术在人类医学中，局部和区域动脉壁硬度（AWS）参数通常用于评估血管健康。在马匹中，缺乏有关超声推导 AWS 参数可重复性的信息。目的 评估马匹局部和区域 AWS 参数的日间、观察者间和观察者内测量变异性。研究设计 实验研究。方法 在 10 匹健康的成年温血马中，在不同的两天从主动脉、头侧和尾侧颈总动脉和髂外动脉采集 B 型、M 型和脉冲波多普勒超声图像。同时记录心率和无创血压。从盲测数据中，从 B/M 模式图像测量舒张期和收缩期血管腔面积和直径，并通过脉冲波多普勒光谱确定压力波的速度。对于每匹马，由同一观察者和第二个独立观察者再次测量一次检查。计算了本地和区域 AWS 参数，并评估了日间和观察者间和观察者内测量变异系数 (CV)。结果 发现动脉直径和管腔面积测量的 CV 值较低。本地 AWS 参数的 CV 为中到高，而区域 AWS 参数的 CV 较低。主要限制 调查的马匹数量太少，无法获得参考值。未评估操作员间的可变性。结论 我们的结果表明主动脉的重现性良好，使用 B 型和 M 型超声检查颈动脉和髂外动脉直径和面积测量。然而，派生的本地 AWS 参数的可变性相对较高。因此，本地 AWS 参数可能不太适合后续研究，尽管它们可能对人群研究有用。另一方面，区域 AWS 参数显示出较低的 CV，使其对后续和人口研究都很有价值。