Enlargement of the Diameter of the Peripheral Arteries in Patients with Idiopathic Venous Thrombosis

Abstract

Recent findings indicate that enlargement of the diameter of the peripheral arteries represents a risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events. As the data indicate a relationship between atherosclerosis and venous thrombosis (VT), we investigated whether the diameter of the peripheral arteries is larger in patients with idiopathic VT than in healthy subjects. The study included 49 patients with idiopathic VT and 48 age-matched healthy controls. Diameters of the brachial, common carotid and common femoral arteries as well as the intima media thickness (IMT) of the carotid and femoral arteries were measured with the high frequency ultrasound method. Patients had significantly higher values for the diameter of the common carotid artery than the controls: 7.9mm (7.4-8.4mm) vs. 7.4mm (7.0-7.9mm), p<0.001, and for the common femoral artery: 10.3mm (9.2-11.1mm) vs. 9.5mm (8.9-10.4mm), p=0.025. Both the carotid and femoral diameters showed significant correlations with gender, age, body mass index and IMT. Linear regression analysis confirmed that the presence of VT significantly and independently influenced the diameter of the carotid and femoral artery but not the brachial artery. The results of our study showed that carotid and femoral artery diameters are enlarged in patients with idiopathic VT in comparison to healthy subjects. Since enlargement of the investigated arterial diameters is an indicator of atherosclerosis, our findings are consistent with the presumption that there is some interrelationship between VT and arterial atherosclerotic disease.