著者

Masahito Michikura Masatsune Ogura Masahiro Yamamoto Masahiko Sekimoto Chizuru Fuke Mika Hori Koji Arai Shinji Kihara Kiminori Hosoda Koji Yanagi Mariko Harada-Shiba

出版者

The Japanese Circulation Society

雑誌

Circulation Journal (ISSN:13469843)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.81, no.12, pp.1879-1885, 2017-11-24 (Released:2017-11-24)

参考文献数

20

被引用文献数

34 32

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Background:Difficulty in detecting and measuring Achilles tendon (AT) xanthomas may be responsible for underdiagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). We aimed to determine a cutoff value for AT thickness (AT-T) using ultrasonography to diagnose FH, and to investigate the relationship between AT-T and atherosclerosis.Methods and Results:Ultrasonographic AT-T and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) were evaluated in 130 genetically diagnosed FH patients and 155 non-FH patients. The outline and internal properties of the AT could be clearly determined using ultrasonography, and a good correlation in AT-T was observed between ultrasonography and the conventional method of X-ray radiography (r=0.924, P<0.001). Cutoff values for the diagnosis of FH derived from receiver-operating curves were 5.8 mm (sensitivity 71%, specificity 78%) in men, and 5.5 mm (sensitivity 80%, specificity 81%) in women. Importantly, increased AT-T was positively associated with carotid IMT only in the FH group. Additionally, increased AT-T was associated with the presence of coronary artery disease in a logistic regression analysis adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors.Conclusions:This is the first study to determine a cutoff value for AT-T based on ultrasonography for the diagnosis of FH in Japanese subjects. Clearer detection and easier measurement of AT-T using ultrasonography would encourage clinicians to diagnose FH more actively, and could solve the problem of underdiagnosis of FH.