title: Strain analysis of wall motion in abdominal aortic aneurysms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In this exploratory study, we used ultrasound speckle-tracking methods, originally used for analyzing cardiac wall motion, to evaluate aortic wall motion.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared 19 abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) patients with 10 healthy volunteers (diameter, 48 mm vs. 15 mm). Motion pictures of the axial view of the aneurysm using ultrasonography were analyzed. Circumferential strain and strain rate at 6 equally divided segments of the aorta were semiautomatically calculated. We termed 'peak' strain and strain rate as the maximum of strain and strain rate in a cardiac cycle for each segment. We also evaluated the coefficient of variation of peak strain rate for the six segments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the aneurysm and control groups, the mean values of peak strain along the 6 segments were 1.5% ± 0.6% vs. 4.7% ± 1.6% (p <0.0001), respectively. The coefficient of variation of the peak strain rate was higher in the AAA group (0.74 ± 0.20) than in the control group (0.56 ± 0.12; p <0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Aortic wall compliance decreased in the more atherosclerotic AAA group. The higher relative dispersion of strain rates in the AAA group is indicative of the inhomogeneous movement of the aortic wall.
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hoshina
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hosaka
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyahara
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shigematsu
authors.affiliation: Vascular Center, Sanno Hospital and Sanno Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyata
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
keywords: abdominal aortic aneurysm; inhomogeneity; strain