P121 Background of the Development of Carotid and Femoral Atherosclerotic Plaques in Twins

DOI

10.2991/artres.k.191224.147How to use a DOI?

Abstract

Introduction: Development of carotid and femoral atherosclerotic plaques proved to be heritable in previous studies. However, no comprehensive ultrasonographic evaluation of the volume and types of plaque has been performed.

Methods: Comprehensive carotid and femoral arterial ultrasound examination (Samsung RS85, arterial analysis, 15 MHz probe) was performed in 92 Hungarian twins (54 monozygotic, MZ and 38 dizygotic, DZ twin pairs, mean age 54 ± 13 years). The volume of plaques was automatically measured, and the plaque type was grouped according to echogenicity. Raw heritability was evaluated using the Falconer formula.

Results: No heritability of the total number of carotid and femoral plaques and total plaque volume was detected. Although the number of carotid plaques themselves has been found to be hereditary (h₂ = 0.492), the volume of carotid and femoral plaques as well as the number of femoral plaques were not heritable. More MZ twin pairs were discordant in the presence of soft plaques in the carotid artery as DZ twin pairs, but greater similarity in femoral plaques was not detected between MZ twins, which does not indicate a genetic background. The presence of calcified and mixed echogenic carotid plaques in the MZ twins was more concordant as in DZ twins, indicating inheritance.

Conclusion: The total number and volume of carotid and femoral plaques are influenced by the environment. Different plaque types have different backgrounds: while calcified and mixed echogenic carotid plaques are more affected by genetics, soft carotid and femoral plaques are more affected by the environment.

Copyright

© 2019 Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

TY  - JOUR
AU  - David Laszlo Tarnoki
AU  - Helga Szabo
AU  - Kata Gyulay
AU  - Zsofia Jokkel
AU  - Rebeka Debreceni
AU  - Greta Janositz
AU  - Anita Hernyes
AU  - Viktor Berczi
AU  - Adam Domonkos Tarnoki
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/02/17
TI  - P121 Background of the Development of Carotid and Femoral Atherosclerotic Plaques in Twins
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - S161
EP  - S161
VL  - 25
IS  - Supplement 1
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/artres.k.191224.147
DO  - 10.2991/artres.k.191224.147
ID  - Tarnoki2020
ER  -