Scanning the journals

Carotid wall elastography to assess midterm vascular dysfunction secondary to intrauterine growth restriction: feasibility and comparison with standardized intima–media thickness Roch ML, Vaujois L, Dahdah N, Chibab N, Maurice A, Nuyt AM, Lévy E, and Bigras JL. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology 2014; 40 (5): 864–69 Intima-media thickness is an ultrasound based biomarker for measuring atherosclerosis in adults and children. This Montreal group of researchers have applied and validated a vascular elastography method adopted to process B-mode images which they term ImBioMark (imaging-based biomarker). In this study they compared 7 adolescents born after IUGR with 7 normal control. They found that there was a clear difference in common carotid artery stiffness between patients with IUGR and controls. If their findings are corroborated it opens up the possibility of identifying vascular problems early in life with hopes of preventative interventions.