Aortic pulse wave velocity in subjects with aortic valve sclerosis.
BACKGROUND
Aortic stiffness is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events and mortality. The measurement of pulse-wave velocity (PWV) is the most simple, noninvasive, and robust method to determine aortic stiffness. Whether aortic stiffness contributes to aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between PWV and AVS in subjects free of clinically evident atherosclerotic disease.


METHODS
We enrolled 62 patients (48 men; age 65 +/- 8 years) diagnosed with AVS and an additional 62 age-, hypertension-, diabetes mellitus-, and history of smoking-matched subjects without AVS. Applanation tonometry was applied to assess the augmentation index and aortic PWV. The subjects with symptomatic vascular disease were excluded from the study. AVS was defined by echocardiography as thickening and calcification of the normal trileaflet aortic valve without obstruction to the left ventricular outflow.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the aortic PWV and augmentation index (11.7+/-3.3 vs 11.8+/-3.7, P=0.85; 28.0+/-9.4 vs 25.0+/-8.6, P=0. 17, respectively). The presence of AVS was significantly correlated with ejection fraction (r=0.211, P=0.011), male gender (r=0.362, P=0.0001), and age (r=0.200, P=0.026).


CONCLUSIONS
The lack of an association between the aortic PWV and AVS suggests that AVS is a complex phenomenon consisting of several distinct processes, related to both atherosclerotic and nonatherosclerotic processes.
Celik
Sükrü
S
Department of Cardiology, KTU Faculty of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey. doktorcelik@yahoo.com.tr
Durmuş
Ismet
I
Korkmaz
Levent
L
Gedikli
Omer
O
Kaplan
Sahin
S
Orem
Cihan
C
Baykan
Merih
M
D000368:Aged; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D012015:Reference Standards