Correlation of Carotid Intima-Media Thickness with Atherosclerosis in Diabetes

B-mode ultrasound of Common Carotid artery at its bifurcation for measure of the Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), offers a valid non-invasive quantifying test for macro-vascular complications like atherosclerosis. Material and Methods: 50 cases of type 2 Diabetes and 30 age and sex matched Non-diabetics controls were taken for present study and subjected to Ultra-sonographic scanning of the carotid arteries using B-mode color Doppler imaging to calculate CIMT. Observation: In the study group, the relationship between CIMT with triglycerides, LDL-C and total cholesterol are positively correlated (p<0.01) which is statistically significant, whereas with CIMT and HDL-C the relation is negatively correlated, which is statistically significant (p<0.01). Conclusion: This study focuses on the importance of CIMT as a simple, non-invasive, safe and cheap screening test for assessing the risk of macro-vascular complications like atherosclerosis as evidenced by strong correlation between CIMT and Lipid Abnormalities in type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients.