A Total Atherosclerotic Score for Whole Body MRA Is Related to Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors, IMT and Manifest Cardiovascular Disease

Tomas Hansen¹, Hkan Ahlstrm², Lars Lind³, Johan Wikstrm⁴, Lars Johansson²

The aim of this study was to create a scoring system for whole body MRA that allows estimation of atherosclerotic induced luminal narrowing in a sample of 306 elderly subjects aged 70. The arterial tree was divided into 5 territories (carotid, aorta, renal, upper, lower leg) comprising 26 vessel segments, and assessed according to its degree of stenosis. The total atherosclerotic score (TAS) was significantly related to traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors included in Framingham risk score and IMT. The group with CV disease had a significantly higher mean TAS value (38.8) than the group without CV disease (23.3) (p=0.0006).