Measurement of the carotid intima-media thickness enables arterial wall thickening to be quantified during preclinical disease stages. However, little is known about how the thickness varies in individuals with no cardiovascular risk factors. The objective of this study was to report on the range of carotid intima-media thicknesses observed in a population of healthy subjects with no cardiovasc...

BACKGROUND Preoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer result in changes to the vessels that are used to construct microsurgical anastomoses. The aim of the study was to investigate quantitative changes and HSP70 expression of irradiated neck recipient vessels and transplant vessels used for microsurgical anastomoses. METHODS Of 20 patients included in thi...

BACKGROUND Haemodialysis vascular access dysfunction is currently a huge clinical problem. Although arteriovenous (AV) fistulae are the preferred mode of dialysis access, they have significant problems with both early (failure to mature) and late fistula failure. Both are characterized radiologically as a stenosis of the venous segment. Despite the magnitude of the clinical problem, the exact p...

To evaluate ultrasonographically determined intima-media thickness as a measure of early atherosclerosis, three studies were performed. Ultrasound measurements of intima-media thickness in the carotid artery were directly validated by comparing the same thickness measured by light microscopy. The values were closely correlated (r = .82, P < .001). Intima-media thickness determined by light micr...

The established method of polarized microscopy in combination with a universal stage is used to determine the layer-specific distributed collagen fibre orientations in 11 human non-atherosclerotic thoracic and abdominal aortas and common iliac arteries (63 ± 15.3 years, mean ± s.d.). A dispersion model is used to quantify over 37 000 recorded fibre angles from tissue samples. The study resulted...

Little is known of the in vivo structural changes of large arteries in uncomplicated hypertension. Therefore, we measured the intima-media thickness and lumen diameter of common carotid and femoral arteries by a computerized ultrasonographic technique in 25 normotensive and 25 never treated hypertensive men of similar age (from 25 to 72 years). The intraobserver variability of carotid and femor...

BACKGROUND Internal thoracic arteries (ITAs) are frequently anastomosed to the coronary circulation for bypass grafting. The purpose of this research was to investigate in vivo the long-term morphofunctional changes of ITAs after their use as coronary artery bypass conduits, by comparing the morphological features and vasoreactivity of the grafted left ITA (LITA) with the native, nonharvested r...

In this study, the involvement of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) in the development of intimal thickening was investigated. A fibromuscular intima was induced by placing a silicone collar around the rabbit carotid artery for 3 days or 2 weeks; the contralateral artery was sham operated. Rabbits received placebo treatments (groups 1 and 3), granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (group 2; G-...