Thermography in Assessing Cardiovascular Risk

Resumo

The recognition of arterial atherosclerosis in all its stages is critical for the prevention of cardiovascular future events, including death. Recently, the measurement of endothelial function through the microcirculation in patients emerged as a useful tool to evaluate the presence of atherosclerotic plaque in different vascular beds. The classic risk factors are associated with impaired endothelial function and lead at least in part, to a loss of control of the homeostasis of the vascular endothelium. However, despite the recognition of these risk factors studies have shown that a significant number of individuals with low risk of cardiovascular events presented. Two studies evaluating endothelial function through the thermography and correlated with risk of cardiovascular events by established methods. From these results we concluded that the study of endothelial function by thermography can be used as a surrogate marker to improve stratification of cardiovascular risk and might also be useful for the evaluation of therapeutic strategies.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18073/2358-4696/pajmt.v2n1p23-25