Carotid pulse transit time a useful marker for atherosclerosis in hypertensive patients?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate whether carotid pulse transit time (PTT) could be a surrogate marker of atherosclerosis in hypertensive patients, and the effect of pre-ejection period (PEP) on it. Right carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), ECG R-wave based carotid PTT (rc-PTT), PEP and transit time through aortic valve to carotid (ac-PTT) were measured using ultrasound Doppler system in 30 hypertensive patients and 18 control subjects. There was significant negative correlation between IMT and rc-PTT (r=-0.55, p=0.0015), and between IMT and ac-PTT (r=-0.41, p=0.02) in hypertensive patients, but no significant correlation was found in control group. These results indicate that rc-PTT and ac-PTT could be useful indices for atherosclerosis in hypertensive patients.