Usefulness of sum of the thickness of plaque in the carotid artery for predicting the presence and the extent of the coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus without known coronary artery disease

AimsThe usefulness of the sum of plaque thickness in the carotid artery (plaque score; PS), as a prediction of coronary artery disease (CAD) was investigated in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.MethodsB mode ultrasonographic scanning of the carotid artery and multislice computed tomography (MSCT) coronary angiography were performed in 227 diabetic patients without known cardiac disease.ResultsThe PS was useful to predict the presence of diseased [nonobstructive and obstructive] CAD (≧3 segments) and obstructive (≧50%) CAD with cut-off value of 3.5 mm (area under curve: 0.745 and 0.782, respectively), according to a receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. A multivariate logistic analysis of baseline risk factors showed that the PS was independent risk factor for the prediction of diseased and obstructive coronary artery disease (R2 = 0.2165, p < 0.0001 and R2 = 0.2265, p < 0.0001, respectively). The PS was most significant predictor of the number of diseased and obstructive segments of the coronary artery in a multiple regression analysis (R2 = 0.2022, p < 0.0001 and R2 = 0.2209, p < 0.0001, respectively).ConclusionsThe PS in the carotid artery was useful for the prediction of the presence and the extent of CAD, and was most important as a screening test for the identification of a high risk group of asymptomatic diabetic patients.