Hemodynamic Predictors of Atherosclerosis in the Thoracic Aorta.
We sought to identify atherosclerotic plaques and measured flow parameters in the descending aorta (DA) of 83 consecutive patients (40 years and older) studied with transesophageal echocardiography. Patients with atherosclerotic plaques in the DA were older (68 +/- 10 vs 58 +/- 12 years [P = 0.0001]), had a higher proportion of spontaneous echo contrast in the DA (15/46 [33%] vs 3 of 37 [8%] P = 0.02), had larger aortic diameters (2.52 +/- 0.35 vs 2.37 +/- 0.36 cm [P = 0.06]), had a lower maximal velocity in the DA (54.2 +/- 21.5 vs 73.8 +/- 33.0 cm/sec [P = 0.02]), and had a lower calculated maximal shear rate (SR) (88.0 +/- 37.6 vs 129.0 +/- 67.0 sec(-1) [P = 0.002]). There was no significant difference between groups with respect to sex, hypertension, diabetes, total cholesterol, and smoking. In multivariate analysis only age (P = 0.002) and maximal SR (P = 0.03) were identified as independent predictors of atherosclerosis in the DA. We conclude that low SR is associated with aortic atherosclerosis.
Sukernik
Mikhail R.
MR
Division of Cardiology, Room 15101, Harlem Hospital Center, 506 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10037.
West
Oscar D.
OD
Chittivelu
Babu
B
Vanderbush
Eric J.
EJ
Francis
Charles K.
CK