Plaque burden in carotid and femoral arteries measured by 3D versus 2D ultrasound and association with coronary calcium in men with intermedian cardiovascular risk

Abstract

Aim: Current cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk stratification scales drawn up from traditional risk factors have important limitations, especially in intermediate risk population. Our aim was to evaluate carotid and femoral plaques prevalence, scanned by 3D vs 2D ultrasound (US) for detection of positive coronary artery calcium score (CACS), used as proxy for CVD in a middle-aged sample with intermediate 10-year CVD risk (7.5-20%).