An update on carotid ultrasound measurement of intima-media thickness.

Coronary atherosclerosis is a chronic, multifactorial disease process. Some individuals with atherosclerosis receive treatment in the form of mechanical or pharmacologic interventions after an acute event has occurred. Others receive treatment in the form of risk factor-based systemic intervention, the effectiveness of which is assessed by its ability to prevent an acute event. Surrogate endpoints in the study of atherosclerosis interventions are needed to better define disease course and disease response to interventions during the prolonged asymptomatic period. Several techniques for assessing arterial health are available, including quantitative intima-media thickness (QIMT) measurement by carotid ultrasound. QIMT is a safe, validated, and portable method that may prove highly useful in screening for atherosclerosis and in providing a surrogate measure for response to disease interventions.