Background: A correlation between coronary artery disease (CAD) and atherosclerosis of peripheral arteries and the determination of noninvasive indexes for its existence and extent have been sought by many researchers. Some studies report that the intima-media thickness (IMT) of peripheral arteries could play this role. This study evaluated the correlation between the IMTs of common carotid and common femoral arteries and the degree of atherosclerosis in aortic arch and to evaluate the severity of CAD in candidates of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods: In a cross-sectional analytic-descriptive study, The severity of CAD, the grade of atherosclerosis of the aortic arch, and the IMTs of the common carotid and common femoral arteries were determined.

Results: There was a significant weak positive correlation between the IMT of common carotid artery (ρ = 0.193, p = 0.039) and common femoral artery (ρ = 0.206, p = 0.028) with the number of involved carotid vessels; the mean of these two parameters was not significantly different between the three CAD groups. There was not any significant relation between the IMTs of common carotid and common femoral arteries with the severity of atherosclerosis in the aortic arch too. There was not any significant relation between the presences of atherosclerotic plaque in the common carotid or the common femoral arteries with the severity of CAD. The severe atherosclerosis of the aortic arch was significantly higher in patients with three vessel disease.

Conclusion: According to our results, the IMTs of common carotid and/or common femoral arteries may increase with the severity of CAD; however, these parameters are not a surrogate for predicting the CAD severity.