How long has CIMT testing been used in clinical practice?
CIMT testing has been used in research for over 20 years. It has only been available in clinical settings since 2002. CIMT testing has been validated in many published studies in the most reputable journals. CIMT has been used in large epidemiologic trials as well as large outcome studies as a surrogate end point for clinical events. CIMT is probably the most studied methodology used to assess large numbers of patients in epidemiologic studies to determine either the correlation of Carotid Intima Media Thickening to clinical events or the correlation of CIMT to other known risk factors. There is a high correlation between the disease found in this procedure and the disease found through pathology samples. The amount of disease found in the common carotid artery correlates highly to the amount of disease found elsewhere in the body.
