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Carotid Plaque Burden by 3-Dimensional Vascular Ultrasound as a Risk Marker for Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

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Abstract

Our aim was to analyse the associations between carotid plaque burden (CPB), cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF), and surrogate markers of CV risk in subjects with metabolic syndrome (MetS). We consecutively included 75 asymptomatic outpatients with MetS components, <60 years old and non-smokers. We determined the presence of CVRF, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR), coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and CPB by 3-dimensional vascular ultrasound (3DVUS) for comparison. A total of 50 (67%) subjects had MetS defined by harmonized criteria. A CPB >0 mm3 and a CACS >0 AU were the risk biomarkers most frequently observed (72% and 77%, respectively), followed by LVH (40%). CPB and CACS revealed association with cardiovascular risk (r = 0.308; p = 0.032 and r = 0.601 p < 0.01, respectively), and CPB also showed association with the burden of CVRF (r = 0.349; p = 0.014). CPB by 3DVUS was a prevalent CV risk marker, directly associated with CVRF and cardiovascular risk in MetS subjects.

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Abbreviations

3DVUS:

3-Dimensional vascular ultrasound

ACR:

Albumin-creatinine ratio

CACS:

Coronary artery calcium score

cIMT:

Carotid intima-media thickness

CPB:

Carotid plaque burden

CT:

Computed tomography

CV:

Cardiovascular

CVRF:

Cardiovascular risk factors

LVH:

Left ventricular hypertrophy

MetS:

Metabolic syndrome

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank Philips HealthCare® Iberia, especially the ultrasound team, for their technical support to be able to carry out this research work.

Funding

Dr. López-Melgar has received a grant from the Spanish Society of Cardiology “Proyecto de investigación traslacional en cardiología 2020” (SEC/FEC-INV-TRL 20/007). Dr. Díaz received fundings from Fundación de Investigación HM hospitales [I Convocatoria Intramural para grupos emergentes, 2016]. Dr. Fernández-Friera has received fundings from Comunidad de Madrid Government (AORTASANA-CM; B2017/BMD-3676), Fondo Social Europeo (FSE) and from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (PI15/02019). Sánchez-Vera, PhD has received fundings from CEU Universities-Banco Santander (MUSPB067).

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Author notes

  1. Beatriz López-Melgar and José Felipe Varona contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario HM Montepríncipe, HM Hospitales-Centro Integral de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares HM CIEC, Av. de Montepríncipe, 25, 28660 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain

    Beatriz López-Melgar, Belén Díaz, José María Castellano & Francisco Javier Parra Jiménez

  2. Unidad de Imagen Cardiaca, Hospital Universitario de La Princesa, Diego de León st, 62, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Beatriz López-Melgar

  3. Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario HM Montepríncipe, Madrid, Spain

    José Felipe Varona & Roberto Ortiz-Regalón

  4. Facultad de Medicina, Universidad CEU-San Pablo, CEU Universities, Madrid, Spain

    José Felipe Varona, José María Castellano & Leticia Fernández-Friera

  5. Departamento Ciencias Médicas Básicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad CEU San Pablo, CEU Universities, Madrid, Spain

    Isabel Sánchez-Vera

  6. Unidad de Imagen Cardiaca, HM Hospitales-Centro Integral de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares HM CIEC, Madrid, Spain

    Belén Díaz & Leticia Fernández-Friera

  7. Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), Madrid, Spain

    José María Castellano & Leticia Fernández-Friera

  8. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Leticia Fernández-Friera

Authors
  1. Beatriz López-Melgar
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  2. José Felipe Varona
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  3. Roberto Ortiz-Regalón
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  4. Isabel Sánchez-Vera
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  5. Belén Díaz
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  6. José María Castellano
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  7. Francisco Javier Parra Jiménez
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  8. Leticia Fernández-Friera
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Beatriz López-Melgar.

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Human Subjects/Informed Consent Statement

All procedures followed were approved by the HM-Hospital ethic committee (10.03.099-GHM) and were in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Associate Editor Ana Barac oversaw the review of this article

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López-Melgar, B., Varona, J.F., Ortiz-Regalón, R. et al. Carotid Plaque Burden by 3-Dimensional Vascular Ultrasound as a Risk Marker for Patients with Metabolic Syndrome. J. of Cardiovasc. Trans. Res. 14, 1030–1039 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-021-10121-z

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