In the femoral artery bifurcation, differences in mean wall shear stress within subjects are associated with different intima-media thicknesses.

In elastic arteries, intima-media thickening is more pronounced in areas with low than with high mean and peak wall shear stress. These findings in elastic arteries are not necessarily representative of the situation in muscular arteries. The former arteries have to store volume energy, whereas the latter are mainly conductive vessels. It was the aim of the present study to investigate noninvasively whether differences in wall shear stress within a muscular artery bifurcation, if any, were associated with different intima-media thicknesses (IMTs). The effect of age on the possible differences was assessed as well. We determined IMT and mean, peak systolic, and the maximum cyclic change in shear stress near the posterior wall in the common (FC) and the superficial (FS) femoral artery 20 to 30 mm from the flow divider in 54 presumed healthy subjects between 21 and 74 years of age. Results were considered in terms of intrasubject differences. Before the study, the reliability of the ultrasonic system to assess wall shear rate and IMT was determined in terms of intrasubject variability. IMT at the posterior wall was significantly larger in the FC than in the FS, probably owing to the significantly lower mean wall shear stress at this site in the FC. The relative differences in IMT and mean wall shear stress between FC and FS were independent of age. The difference in wall shear stress between both arteries can likely be explained by a different influence of reflections. In both the FC and FS, mean, peak systolic, and maximum cyclic change in shear stress near the posterior wall did not change significantly with age, whereas IMT did increase significantly with age.