Assessing the Short-Term Effects of Radiotherapy on the Shear Modulus of the Common Carotid Artery As a New Biomarker of Radiation-Induced Atherosclerosis Publisher



Mohammadkarim A¹ ; Mokhtaridizaji M¹ ; Kazemian A² ; Saberi H³ ; Yazdi NA³ ; Esfehani M⁴
Source: Ultrasonography Published:2022

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 radiation-induced atherosclerosis in the common carotid artery. © 2022 Korean Society of Ultrasound in Medicine (KSUM).