Vascular ultrasound and cardiovascular risk assessment

Vascular ultrasound is able to detect endothelial dysfunction, arterial structural remodeling and increased arterial stiffness. These alterations have been shown to be associated with established and emerging cardiovascular risk factors and with incident cardiovascular events. Therefore, vascular ultrasound has been proposed to evaluate the role of different risk factors in the initiation and progression of atherosclerotic process, to study vascular aging and the relationship between arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis, to assess the efficacy of life-style and therapeutic interventions, and to improve the estimation of individual cardiovascular risk. The present paper provides a critical overview of the clinical evidence appraising the association of flow-mediated dilation, carotid and femoral intima-media thickness and plaque presence as well as local arterial stiffness with cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular events.