Validation of in vivo noninvasive high-frequency ultrasonography of the arterial wall layers

To validate estimates of the arterial wall thickness and its separate layers, 19 superficial (7 femoral and 12 cutaneous) arteries were transcutaneously sonographed in 13 anaesthetized pigs with a high-resolution equipment fitted with a 25 MHz frequency probe. Means of ultrasonographic estimates of each wall layer were compared with those obtained from microscopy of the respective arterial specimens taken after the pigs were sacrificed. For all vessels combined, Spearman-rank correlation tests between ultrasonography and histology estimates were significant for total arterial wall thickness (r(s) = 0.78; p =.0001) but not for the separate layers, For the cutaneous arteries, a significant correlation was found for total arterial wall thickness (r(s)= 0.69; p =.01) and media layer (r(s) = 0.76; p = .004), The method seems to give valid estimates of both total arterial wall and media thickness in superficial arteries, but to be less accurate for estimate the adventitia and intima Layers. (C) 2001 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.