Echo-tracking assessment of carotid artery stiffness in patients with aortic valve stenosis.
BACKGROUND
There is little information about mechanical properties of large arteries in patients (pts) with aortic stenosis (AS).


METHODS
Nineteen patients with AS (aortic valve area: 0.88 +/- 0.29 cm(2)) and 24 control subjects without AS but with a similar distribution of risk factors were recruited. beta index, pressure-strain elastic modulus (Ep), arterial compliance (AC), augmentation index (AIx), and local pulse-wave velocity (PWV) were obtained at the level of right common carotid artery (CCA) by a real time echo-tracking system. Time to dominant peak of carotid diameter change waveform, corrected for heart rate (tDPc), and maximum rate of rise of carotid diameter (dD/dt) were measured. Systemic arterial compliance (SAC) was also calculated. Parameters of AS severity (mean gradient, valve area, stroke work loss [SWL]) were determined.


RESULTS
tDPc was higher in patients with AS than in controls (7.9 +/- 0.6 vs. 6.6 +/- 0.7, P < 0.0001) while dD/dt was lower (5.3 +/- 3.6 mm/s vs. 7.8 +/- 2.8 mm/s, P = 0.01). AIx was significantly higher in AS group (32.5 +/- 13.6% vs. 20.6 +/- 12.2%, P = 0.005) and had a linear correlation both with tDPc (r = 0.63, P < 0.0001) and with dD/dt (r =-0.38, P = 0.01). There was a significant correlation between carotid AC and SAC (r = 0.49, P = 0.03), but only carotid AC was related to SWL (r = 0.51, P = 0.02), while SAC was not (P = 0.26).


CONCLUSIONS
AIx was the only parameter of arterial rigidity found to be higher in patients with AS than in controls. Carotid AC showed a significant correlation with SAC and it seemed to be more closely related to AS severity than to SAC.
Antonini-Canterin
Francesco
F
Cardiologia ARC, Azienda Ospedaliera S. Maria degli Angeli, Pordenone, Italy. cardiologia@aopn.fvg.it
Roşca
Monica
M
Beladan
Carmen C
CC
Popescu
Bogdan A
BA
Piazza
Rita
R
Leiballi
Elisa
E
Ginghină
Carmen
C
Nicolosi
Gian L
GL
D000368:Aged; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography