Unit for the Study of Arterial Morphology and Function
The Unit for the Study of Arterial Morphology and Function is focused on the non-invasive assessment of early atherosclerosis. Most studies are performed by using B-mode ultrasound, which provides information on the presence and extent of atherosclerotic plaques, arterial wall thickness (carotid intima media thickness or C-IMT) and vessel lumen diameter of superficial arteries. These variables are used as "surrogate" markers of atherosclerosis. The experience of the group is internationally recognized and the relevance ascribed to C-IMT by the scientific community is evidenced by the ever-growing number of studies which use this ultrasonic variable.
The general mission of the Unit is to identify new markers of arterial damage predictive of future vascular events and to produce the required scientific evidence to validate and transfer them from the research to the clinical practice. The Unit is strongly committed in developing new strategies for the better estimation of global cardiovascular risk based on the concept of "integrated biomarkers”. In this regard, the usefulness of the approach is documented by findings, showing that several of the identified variables (C-IMT, inter-adventitia common carotid diameter, fastest C-IMT progression etc.) not only associate to successive vascular events but also significantly improve the power of vascular risk factors to predict new vascular events, especially in the large number of patients who, according to available risk algorithms, fall into the intermediate-risk category.
Main research topics of the Unit are:
- identification of new atherosclerosis risk factors on the basis of their effect on C-IMT and endothelial function;
- development of new tools for the study of atherosclerosis and for improving predictability of vascular events;
- assessment of the association between C-IMT change over-time, conventional and emerging risk factors and the incidence of cardiovascular events;
- assessment of the effects of pharmacological treatments on morphological and functional properties of superficial arteries;
- identification of innovative methods for image processing based on artificial neural networks analyses;
- use of novel statistical models able to account for the complex patterns of interconnections between the different variables affecting cardiovascular disease;
- epidemiological studies aimed at identifying subjects at high risk of cardiovascular diseases.
In addition, the Unit coordinates and acts as core laboratory in national and international multicenter studies on the epidemiology of atherosclerosis.