Objective Three parameters include circumferential strain (CS),circumferential strain rate (CSr) and stiffness parameter (β) were measured to evaluate the elasticity of carotid artery using two-dimensional(2D) strain imaging and evaluate its clinical value in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods 60 patients with T2DM were collected and divided into carotid intima-midia thickness (CIMT) thickeness group(34 cases,1.0 mm＜CIMT≤1.2 mm) and plaque group(26 case,CIMT＞ 1.2 mm).33 normal people were supplied as control group.The systolic global peak CS and CSr of the carotid artery were obtained from short-axis view of the common carotid artery and the stiffness parameters β was measured using 2D strain imaging.All the parameters were compared among the three groups.Results The CS and CSr were decreased and β was increased in patients with T2DM (P ＜ 0.01),The CS and CSr obtained from the plaque group were less than that of the CIMT thickeness group(P ＜0.05),but the β was higher than that of the CIMT thickeness group (P ＜0.01).The CS and β were correlated significantly with CIMT respectively (r =-0.79,P ＜ 0.01 ; r =0.72,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions 2D strain imaging is a technique for early assessing the carotid artery elasticity in patients with T2DM,the thicker the CIMT is,the smaller the deformation is and the larger the β is.