Pignoli P, Tremoli E, Poli A, Oreste P, Paoletti R
Circulation. 1986 Dec;74(6):1399-406. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.74.6.1399.
A study in vitro of specimens of human aortic and common carotid arteries was carried out to determine the feasibility of direct measurement (i.e., not from residual lumen) of arterial wall thickness with B mode real-time imaging. Measurements in vivo by the same technique were also obtained from common carotid arteries of 10 young normal male subjects. Aortic samples were classified as class A (relatively normal) or class B (with one or more atherosclerotic plaques). In all class A and 85% of class B arterial samples a characteristic B mode image composed of two parallel echogenic lines separated by a hypoechoic space was found. The distance between the two lines (B mode image of intimal + medial thickness) was measured and correlated with the thickness of different combinations of tunicae evaluated by gross and microscopic examination. On the basis of these findings and the results of dissection experiments on the intima and adventitia we concluded that results of B mode imaging of intimal + medial thickness did not differ significantly from the intimal + medial thickness measured on pathologic examination. With respect to the accuracy of measurements obtained by B mode imaging as compared with pathologic findings, we found an error of less than 20% for measurements in 77% of normal and pathologic aortic walls. In addition, no significant difference was found between B mode-determined intimal + medial thickness in the common carotid arteries evaluated in vitro and that determined by this method in vivo in young subjects, indicating that B mode imaging represents a useful approach for the measurement of intimal + medial thickness of human arteries in vivo.
进行了一项关于人体主动脉和颈总动脉标本的体外研究，以确定使用B型实时成像直接测量（即不从残余管腔测量）动脉壁厚度的可行性。还通过相同技术对10名年轻正常男性受试者的颈总动脉进行了体内测量。主动脉样本分为A类（相对正常）或B类（有一个或多个动脉粥样硬化斑块）。在所有A类和85%的B类动脉样本中，发现了一种特征性的B型图像，由两条平行的强回声线组成，中间隔着一个低回声间隙。测量这两条线之间的距离（内膜+中膜厚度的B型图像），并将其与通过大体和显微镜检查评估的不同膜层组合的厚度进行关联。基于这些发现以及对内膜和外膜的解剖实验结果，我们得出结论，内膜+中膜厚度的B型成像结果与病理检查测量的内膜+中膜厚度没有显著差异。关于B型成像获得的测量结果与病理结果的准确性，我们发现77%的正常和病理主动脉壁测量误差小于20%。此外，体外评估的颈总动脉中B型确定的内膜+中膜厚度与年轻受试者体内通过该方法确定的厚度之间没有显著差异，这表明B型成像代表了一种在体内测量人体动脉内膜+中膜厚度的有用方法。
