High frequency ultrasound for comparing characteristics of lower limb arteries between athletes and normal people

Abstract

Objective To compare the difference of high-frequency ultrasound characteristics of lower limb arteries between athletes and normal people, and explore the effect of exercise time on the ultrasonic characteristics of lower limb arteries, so as to guide people to live a healthy lifestyle. Methods A total of 96 professional long-distance runners, short-distance runners, and cyclists who worked in the local sports bureau and the sports college from July 2015 to March 2016 and were engaged in sports training ranging from 5 months to 11 years were selected as an experimental group. Another 108 healthy young people without exercise habits were selected as a control group. The ultrasound diagnostic instrument American GE LOGIQ-7 was used to examine the anterior tibial artery, posterior tibial artery, and peroneal artery of the subjects and measure the blood vessel inner diameter (ID) and intima-media thickness (IMT). SPSS19.0 statistical software package was used for data analysis. The data were tested for normality and homogeneity of variance. Measurement data such as ID and IMT are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation and were compared using the t-test. Count data such as sex composition are expressed as percentages and were compared using the χ2 test. The comparisons of ID and IMT among the experimental subgroups A, B, and C were performed by analysis of variance, followed by pairwise comparisons between groups by the LSD method. Results There were no significant differences in the ID or IMT of the anterior tibial artery, posterior tibial artery, and peroneal artery between the two sides in both groups (P>0.05). The ID and IMT of the tibial artery (t=-3.323, 4.488, all P 0.05). Conclusion Lower limb exercise training can increase the diameter and reduce the intima-middle thickness of the artery. Moreover, when a certain extent of exercise time and intensity are reached, the arterial diameter will gradually increase and intima-middle thickness will gradually decrease with the extension of exercise time, thus delaying the process of atherosclerosis. Key words: Ultrasonography; Athlete; Lower extremity artery; Inner diameter; Intimal medial thickness