Association of subclinical atherosclerosis using carotid intima-media thickness, carotid plaque, and coronary calcium score with left ventricular dyssynchrony: The multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

- Atherosclerotic markers such as carotid intima-media thickness, carotid plaque score, and coronary calcium score are related to subclinical left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony.
- The atherosclerosis-LV dyssynchrony relationship is independent of the presence of myocardial scar and left bundle branch block.
- These findings are the first to exhibit the atherosclerosis - dyssynchrony correlation using cardiac MRI in a population-based cohort-way before the occurrence of global LV dysfunction.
- Of the atherosclerotic parameters, carotid plaque score was better correlated with subclinical LV dyssynchrony.
- These findings illustrate a potential role of atherosclerosis in inflicting subclinical myocardial damage and provide insights into the mechanisms of atherosclerosis-related incipient LV dysfunction.

BackgroundThe role of atherosclerosis in the progression of global left ventricular dysfunction and cardiovascular events has been well recognized. Left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony is a measure of regional myocardial dysfunction. Our objective was to investigate the relationship of subclinical atherosclerosis with mechanical LV dyssynchrony in a population-based asymptomatic multi-ethnic cohort.Methods and ResultsParticipants of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) at exam 5 were evaluated using 1.5T cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, carotid ultrasound (n = 2062) for common carotid artery (CCA) and internal carotid artery (ICA) intima-media thickness (IMT), and cardiac computed tomography (n = 2039) for coronary artery calcium (CAC) assessment (Agatston method). Dyssynchrony indices were defined as the standard deviation of time to peak systolic circumferential strain (SD-TPS) and the difference between maximum and minimum (max-min) time to peak strain using harmonic phase imaging in 12 segments (3-slices × 4 segments). Multivariable regression analyses were performed to assess associations after adjusting for participant demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, LV mass, and ejection fraction. In multivariable analyses, SD-TPS was significantly related to measures of atherosclerosis, including CCA-IMT (8.7 ms/mm change in IMT, p = 0.020), ICA-IMT (19.2 ms/mm change in IMT, p < 0.001), carotid plaque score (1.2 ms/unit change in score, p < 0.001), and log transformed CAC+1 (0.66 ms/unit log-CAC+1, p = 0.018). These findings were consistent with other parameter of LV dyssynchrony i.e. max-min.ConclusionIn the MESA cohort, measures of atherosclerosis are associated with parameters of subclinical LV dyssynchrony in the absence of clinical coronary event and left-bundle-branch block.