American Society of Echocardiography Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Task Force Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 2008; 21 (2):

Use of carotid ultrasound to identify subclinical vascular disease and evaluate cardiovascular disease risk: a consensus statement from the American Society of Echocardiography Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Task Force

American Society of Echocardiography Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Task Force Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 2008; 21 (2): 93 -111

There is great interest in identifying asymptomatic patients at high risk
who might be candidates for more intensive, evidence-based medical
interventions that reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Measurement
of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) with B-mode
ultrasound is a noninvasive, sensitive, and reproducible technique for
identifying and quantifying subclinical vascular disease and for evaluating
CVD risk. To address issues of standardization and help
improve the availability of experienced clinical laboratories that can
perform high-quality CIMT studies, this consensus document provides
recommendations for the use of carotid ultrasound for identifying
and quantifying subclinical vascular disease and for evaluating
CVD risk in clinical practice. Nine published prospective studies that
included at least 1000 asymptomatic participants have examined
CIMT and CVD risk. Each study demonstrated that CIMT was
significantly associated with risk for myocardial infarction, stroke,
death from coronary heart disease, or a combination of these events.
In most of these studies, the ability of CIMT to predict future CVD
events was independent of traditional risk factors. Furthermore, 9
large studies have demonstrated similar or greater predictive power

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