A comparative study of the effect of coronary artery disease on ascending and abdominal aorta distensibility and pulse wave velocity.
The effect of coronary artery disease on aortic distensibility and pulse wave velocity was studied in 73 male normotensive patients, divided in two groups. Group A (n = 36) consisted of patients with normal coronaries and one-vessel disease and Group B (n = 37) of patients with two- and three-vessel disease. Distensibility (10(-6).cm2.dyne-1) was calculated from the equation: 2 x [(change in aortic diameter from systole to diastole/(diastolic aortic diameter) x (pulse pressure)]. Aortic diameters were measured with two-dimensional guided M-mode echocardiography. For ascending aorta distensibility calculations, pulse pressure (PP) measured at brachial artery with sphygmomanometry (BrPP) was employed. For abdominal aorta distensibility calculations, BrPP was corrected from the equation: corrected BrPP = 0.642 x BrPP + 42.54 (r = 0.9) obtained by comparing BrPP and abdominal aorta PP measured directly during cardiac catheterization.


RESULTS
1) Ascending and abdominal aorta distensibility were greater in Group A compared to Group B (2.732 +/- 0.92 vs 0.688 +/- 0.57, p < 0.0001 and 2.098 +/- 0.65 vs 0.871 +/- 0.64, p < 0.0001 respectively). Moreover, ascending was greater than abdominal aorta distensibility in Group A (p < 0.0001), while no significant difference between the two was observed in Group B and 2) Pulse wave velocity was inversely related to ascending and abdominal aorta distensibility (r = -0.56 and r = -0.5 respectively). Thus, high grade coronary atherosclerosis is associated with decreased distensibility and loss of elastic inhomogeneity of the aorta resulting in increased pulse wave velocity.
Division of Cardiology of the Medical School of the University of Athens, Greece.
F
F
Triposkiadis
I
I
Kallikazaros
A
A
Trikas
C
C
Stefanadis
C
C
Stratos
D
D
Tsekoura
P
P
Toutouzas
D001011:Aorta / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged