ORIGINAL ARTICLE Early ultrasonographic markers of atherosclerosis in patients with familial Mediterranean fever Ismail Sari & Oguzhan Karaoglu & Gercek Can & Servet Akar & Aytac Gulcu & Merih Birlik & Nurullah Akkoc & Mehmet Tunca & Yigit Goktay & Fatos Onen Received: 30 October 2006 / Revised: 1 December 2006 / Accepted: 23 December 2006 / Published online: 23 January 2007 # Clinical Rheumatology 2007 AbstractSystemic inflammation plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis (AS). The aim ofthis study was to evaluate the presence of early AS in patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) that is character- ized by recurrent inflammatory attacks of serositis. Sixty- one FMF patients (30 Male/31 Female; 31.5 [18–54] years) and 31 healthy controls (16 Male/15 Female; 31 [22– 58] years) were studied. All FMF patients were on regular daily colchicine treatment and during attack-free periods. Both theFMF patientsand controlswith a history of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, and hyperlipidemia were excluded. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Serum lipids, C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) wereassessed. Two-houroral glucose tolerance test was performed to rule out DM and glucose intolerance. To investigate early AS “endothelium- dependent flow-mediated dilatation (FMD%),” “nitroglyc- erin-induced endothelium-independent peripheral vasodila- tation (NTG%),”and intima-media thickness (IMT) of common carotid arteries (CCA) were measured by ultra- sonograpy. The median disease duration for FMF patients was 16 (1–45) years. Age,sex,BMI, smoking status, and serum lipidswerecomparable in patientsand controls (p >0.05). However, ESR and standard CRP were signifi- cantly higher in the patients group (p< 0.05). There were differences in the measurements of right, left, and averag IMT of CCA between patients and controls ([0.49 vs 0.5], [0.51 vs0.52]and [0.5 vs0.51];p>0.05,respectively). None of the subjects had carotid artery plaques. FMD% an NTG% were also similar in patients and controls group ([18.2 vs 20.6] and [24.2 vs 22.5]; p>0.05, respectively). This study suggests that the markers of early AS are not impaired in FMF patientson regulardaily colchicine treatment. Keywords Arteriosclerosis . Familial mediterranean fever . Ultrasonography Abbreviations AS atherosclerosis BAD brachial artery diameter BMI body mass index CCA common carotid artery CRP C-reactive protein CV cardiovascular DM diabetes mellitus ESR erythrocyte sedimentation rate FMD flow-mediated dilatation FMF familial Mediterranean fever HDL high density lipoprotein HT hypertension IMT intima-media thickness Clin Rheumatol (2007) 26:1467–1473 DOI 10.1007/s10067-006-0529-2 I. Sari : G. Can : S. Akar : M. Birlik : N. Akkoc : F. Onen Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, School of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, 35340 Inciralti, Izmir,Turkey O. Karaoglu : A. Gulcu : Y. Goktay Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, 35340Inciralti, Izmir,Turkey M. Tunca Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, 35340 Inciralti, Izmir,Turkey F. Onen (*) Tip Fakultesi, Ic hastaliklari ABD, Immunoloji-Romatoloji BD, Dokuz Eylul Universitesi, 35340 Inciralti, Izmir,Turkey e-mail: fatos.onen@deu.edu.tr