IMR Press / RCM / Volume 23 / Issue 12 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2312386
Open Access Original Research
Divergent Occurrence of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and Carotid Arteries Plaques in Stable Kidney Transplant Recipients
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1 Department of Nephrology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-027 Katowice, Poland
2 Department of Internal Medicine and Oncological Chemotherapy, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-027 Katowice, Poland
*Correspondence: uryniusz@wp.pl (Aureliusz Kolonko)
Academic Editor: Jerome L. Fleg
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2022, 23(12), 386; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2312386
Submitted: 26 July 2022 | Revised: 19 September 2022 | Accepted: 20 September 2022 | Published: 28 November 2022
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Carotid atherosclerosis is one of the main cerebrovascular complications in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). We analyzed the relationships between carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and the occurrence and characteristics of carotid plaques in a cohort of KTRs. Methods: In 500 KTRs (aged 49.9 ± 12.0 years), IMT was measured and carotid plaques were semi-qualitatively assessed. Concomitantly, biochemical and hormonal inflammatory, vascular and calcium-phosphate metabolism parameters were also assessed. Results: In 10.2% of patients, a side-to-side IMT difference >0.1 mm was observed, whereas 26.8% of patients with no plaques in one carotid artery had at least one contralateral calcified plaque. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age (rpartial = 0.409; p < 0.001), male sex (rpartial = 0.199; p < 0.001), and coronary artery disease (rpartial = 0.139; p < 0.01) independently increased IMT (R2 = 0.25). For the occurrence of calcified carotid plaques, age (rpartial = 0.544; p < 0.001), male gender (rpartial = 0.127; p < 0.05), and the duration of renal insufficiency prior to transplantation (rpartial = 0.235; p < 0.001) were confirmed as independent variables. Conclusions: Substantial side-to-side differences in IMT values and carotid plaques distribution are present in a large percentage of stable KTRs. In addition, there are different clinical risk factors profiles associated with IMT and the presence of calcified plaques. Vascular and calcium-phosphate metabolism biomarkers were not associated with any carotid atherosclerosis characteristics.

Keywords
atherosclerosis
biomarkers
calcified plaques
kidney transplantation
ultrasound
Figures
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