Ultrasound intima-media thickness and diameter measurements of the common carotid artery in patients with renal failure disease

Abstract

Although the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery (CCA) is an established indicator of cardiovascular disease (CVD), its relationship with renal failure disease (RFD) is not yet established. In this study, we use an automated integrated segmentation system based on snakes, for segmenting the CCA, perform measurements of the IMT, and measure the CCA diameter (D). The study was performed on 20 longitudinal-section ultrasound images of healthy individuals and on 22 ultrasound images acquired from 11 RFD patients. A neurovascular expert manually delineated the IMT and the D in all RFD subjects. All images were intensity normalized and despeckled, the IMC and the D, were automatically segmented and measured We found increased IMT and D measurements for the RFD patients when compared to the normal subjects, but we found no statistical significant differences for the mean IMT and mean D measurements between the normal and the RFD patients.