Assessing the short-term effects of radiotherapy on the shear modulus of the common carotid artery as a new biomarker of radiation-induced atherosclerosis
- Author:
Alireza MOHAMMADKARIM
1
;
Manijhe MOKHTARI-DIZAJI
;
Ali KAZEMIAN
;
Hazhir SABERI
;
Niloofar Ayoobi YAZDI
;
Mahbod ESFEHANI
Author Information
- Publication Type:1
- From: Ultrasonography 2022;41(1):114-123
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Purpose:The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of short-term atherosclerosis in the common carotid arteries following radiotherapy.
Methods:The mean radiation dose to the arteries was 49.30±15.83 Gy. A computational ultrasound method was introduced to investigate the elastic modulus. Ultrasonography was performed 2-3 cm inferior to the bifurcation region before and after radiotherapy, and sequential images were extracted from a video of each artery. Instantaneous movement of the arterial wall in the radial and longitudinal directions was extracted by implementing the maximum gradient and block matching algorithms, respectively.
Results:There was a significant change in systolic blood pressure after radiotherapy (P=0.008). Irradiated arteries had significantly smaller systolic and end-diastolic diameters than non-irradiated arteries (P<0.001). The shear modulus was significantly different between irradiated and non-irradiated arteries (3.10±2.03 kPa vs. 1.38±0.98 kPa, P<0.001). The shear and Young moduli of radiation-induced arteries were 2.25±1.50 and 1.57±0.59 times higher than those of the pre-irradiation arteries.
Conclusion:The arterial shear modulus can be considered as a new biomarker of radiationinduced atherosclerosis in the common carotid artery.
