AimCardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) was newly developed index of arterial wall stiffness.To compare the validity of both diagnostic technique CAVI and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) which was known to reflect cervical arterial atherosclerosis, both indices were measured in patients with coronary stenosis and cerevral infarction and non-atherosclerosis diseases.MethodsBetween January and June 2006, a total of 183 (55～70 years old ) consecutive subjects were measured with CAVI and IMT.The percentage of difference of left and right sidedness was compared with measured value for CAVI and IMT.In the comparison study for validity of both diagnostic technique, miocardial infarction(n=42), cerebral infarction ( n=47) and non-atherosclerosis (n=30)were included.CAVI and IMT were simultaneously measured.Validities of CAVI and IMT for various cardio-and cerebro-vascular diseases were evaluated by ROC analysis.Instrument for CAVI was applied in Sakura hospital (TOHO university ).In all, 3 autopsied patients had performed concurrently CAVI measurement in life.The study compared respective agreement degree between measurement value and pathological change in main artery.Results The percentage of difference of left and right sideness with measured value for CAVI was remarkably smaller than IMT.The area under the ROC curves of CAVI and IMT for coronary stenosis were 0.894(95%CI 0.810～0.978) and 0.700(95%CI 0.566～0.834) respectvely.And the area under the ROC curves of CAVI and IMT for cerebral infarction were 0.831(95%CI 0.747～0.914) and 0.576 (95%CI 0.458～0.695) respectively.Obviously areas under the ROC curve of CAVI were larger compared with area under ROC curve of IMT whether in coronary artery or cerebro-artery atherosclerosis.Three autopsy cases demonstrated that CAVI and IMT during in life was agreement with severity of aortic atherosclerosis.ConclusionCAVI has a high validity for diagnosis to IMT, it is a good indicator of cardio-and cerebro-vascular event, and is more likely reflecting arterioscleosis in a whole body than IMT.