title: Elasticity properties of pulmonary artery in patients with bicuspid aortic valve.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although the vascular complications of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease cause significant morbidity and mortality, the role of pulmonary artery in this pathogenesis is less understood. We aimed to assess the elastic properties of pulmonary artery with echocardiography in patients with BAV.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with BAV (26 males) were enrolled in this study. The presence of aortic stenosis was accepted as exclusion criteria. Thirty-two healthy subjects (27 males) with no any history of cardiovascular disease comprised the control group. In all patients, maximal frequency shift (MFS) and acceleration time (AcT) of the pulmonary artery flow trace were measured echocardiographically in parasternal short-axis view. Subsequently, pulmonary artery stiffness (PAS) was calculated by using the following formula PAS (kHz/sec) = MFS/AcT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences in baseline demographic characteristics of the study population. Aortic strain and aortic distensibility index were lower, and aortic stiffness index (SI) higher, in patients with BAV. The PAS was significantly increased in patients with BAV compared with control subjects with tricuspid aortic valve (11.08 ± 2.27 vs. 7.11 ± 1.54, P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between aortic diameters, aortic elasticity indexes, and PAS. Multivariate linear regression analysis, the only significant independent factor affecting the PAS was SI (β = 0.547, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We demonstrated that elastic properties of pulmonary artery tend to be impaired as in the aorta in patients with BAV disease.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.forename: Uygar Cagdas
authors.initials: UC
authors.lastname: Yuksel
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yalcinkaya
authors.forename: Yalcin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gokoglan
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yildirim
authors.forename: Baris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bugan
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.forename: Mutlu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gungor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001011:Aorta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D000082882:Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D059289:Vascular Stiffness
keywords: bicuspid aortic valve; echocardiography; pulmonary artery stiffness