Incidence of Atherosclerotic Lesions in the Carotid Artery of Femoral Artery in the Cases with Coronary Artery Disease or Cerebral Infarction.

The usefulness of carotid sonography or femoral sonography to judge atherosclerosis was examined. Carotid sonography in 479 cases who underwent coronary arteriography was conducted. Femoral sonography in 462 cases was conducted at the same time. Atherosclerotic lesions (AL) were defined by the intima-media thickness as being 1.5mm or more. The results were as follows. 1)The incidence of AL in the carotid artery or femoral artery increased with the number of sclerotic coronary vessels. 2)The incidence of AL in the carotid artery or femoral artery was highest in those patients with both coronary artery disease (CAD) and cerebral infarction (CI), next in those with only either of the two diseases, and lowest in those with neither of the two diseases. 3)In those males who were 65 years old or older with neither CAD nor CI, the incidences of AL were high (those in the carotid artery, femoral artery and at least either of the two arteries were 61.5%, 73.7% and 89.5%, respectively). 4)The odds ratio of CAD associated with AL in the carotid artery, corrected by age using logistic regression analysis, were 2.69 and 8.12 in males and females respectively and those in the femoral artery were 2.58 and 4.37 in males and females respectively. Also, those in both of the two arteries were 4.55 and 23.11 in males and females respectively. 5)The probability of some patient with AL in the coronary artery, cerebral artery, carotid artery, or femoral artery having AL in other arteries would be high. Therefore, results which analyzed the risk factors of AL in some artery would not be peculiar only to the artery concerned, but would also indicate the risk factors of AL in the whole body