title: Aortic dimensions in patients with bicuspid and tricuspid aortic valves.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Whether patients with bicuspid aortic valves are susceptible not only to ascending aortic dilatation but also to dilatation of the remaining aorta is uncertain. This study evaluated the possible correlation between ascending aortic dilatation and dilatation of the remaining aorta in patients with bicuspid and tricuspid aortic valves, respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  The entire aortas of 97 patients (bicuspid in 62, tricuspid in 35) undergoing replacement of the ascending aorta because of ascending aortic pathology (78 with and 19 without concurrent valve pathology) were preoperatively evaluated using computed tomography scanning.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aortic dimensions distal to the ascending aorta were smaller in patients with bicuspid aortic valves than in patients with tricuspid aortic valves (P < .001): proximal arch: 3.20 ± 0.60 cm/3.80 ± 0.68 cm; distal arch: 2.90 ± 0.60 cm/3.40 ± 0.50 cm; isthmus, 2.95 ± 0.60 cm/3.50 ± 0.60 cm; descending aorta: 2.70 ± 0.50 cm/3.20 ± 0.65 cm; suprarenal aorta: 2.30 ± 0.40 cm/2.70 ± 0.43 cm; infrarenal aorta: 1.90 ± 0.48 cm/2.20 ± 0.35 cm, respectively. Concomitant pathologic dilatation of the descending aorta was more common in patients with tricuspid aortic valves (37%) than in patients with bicuspid aortic valves (5%) (P < .001). Neither valvular pathology nor bicuspid aortic valve phenotype influenced the aortic dimensions in the bicuspid group (P > .2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with bicuspid aortic valves and dilatation of the ascending aorta consistently had smaller dimensions of the remaining aorta compared with patients with tricuspid aortic valves. Concomitant dilatation of the descending aorta was predominantly found in patients with tricuspid aortic valves.
authors.affiliation: Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. veronica.jackson@karolinska.se
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franco-Cereceda
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001027:Aortography / Q000379:methods; D000082882:Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed