Usability of Achilles tendon strain elastography for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

PURPOSE

There are close relationships between major coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors and Achilles tendon thickness (AT-T) and AT strain ratio (AT-SR). Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic importance of AT-T and AT-SR as obtained by ultrasonography (USG) and strain elastography (SE) for predicting CAD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

One hundred and eighty-four patients scheduled to undergo coronary angiography were included in the study. Achilles tendon USG (B-mode and SE) and laboratory tests were performed on all patients. The patients were divided into two groups, i.e., patients with and without CAD.

RESULTS

The patients with CAD (72.8%) were more likely to be male, exhibited higher frequencies of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hyperlipidemia, exhibited higher levels of basal creatinine and glucose, and had higher AT-T and AT-SR values (p < 0.05 for all). Age, DM, AT-T, and AT-SR independently predicted the probability of CAD in a logistic regression analysis (p < 0.05 for all). Age (each year), DM (presence), AT-T (each 1 mm), and AT-SR (each 0.1) increased the CAD risk by 3.4%, 2.9 times, 47.1%, and 16.0%, respectively. ROC analysis revealed AUCs of 0.665 and 0.730 for the AT-T and AT-SR values, respectively (p < 0.05). The AT-SR cutoff value of 1.2 predicted the presence of CAD with 75.4% sensitivity and 72.7% specificity.

CONCLUSIONS

AT-SR is a simple, inexpensive, noninvasive, reproducible, and objective parameter for the prediction of CAD. We think that AT-SR evaluation should become a part of conventional USG assessments in patients who are at a high risk of CAD.