B040: Regional aortic compliance studied by magnetic resonance imaging: the effects of age, hypertension, and coronary artery disease

• Published in: American journal of hypertension Vol. 13; no. S2; p. 201A
• Main Authors: Darwish, A.Z., El Oraby, A.M., El Masry, M.M., Tayel, M.A., Abd El Aziz, O.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.04.2000
• Subjects: Age; Aortic compliance; coronary artery disease; hypertension; magnetic resonance imaging
• ISSN: 0895-7061; 1879-1905; 1941-7225
• DOI: 10.1016/S0895-7061(00)00701-9

A popular saying is that a man is as old as his arteries. The commonest arterial disease is “hardening of the arteries” or atherosclerosis, which leads, among other things, to a loss of elasticity, so arterial elasticity is measured as compliance, which is the change in volume per unit change in pressure. Our study will be carried out to evaluate the effect of age, hypertension and coronary artery disease on regional aortic compliance using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This work included 30 healthy subjects (group I), 30 patients with chronic hypertension, (group II), and 30 patients with CAD (groupIII) whose age were matched each group was subdivided into 2 subgroups: (a) <50 years, (b) > 50 years. All subjects underwent the following: —careful history; laboratory investigation, echocardiographic examination and finally MR images were acquired at end diastole and end systole through the ascending aorta, aortic arch, and descending thoracic aorta, regional compliance was derived from the change in luminal area in a slice of known thickness and from the pulse pressure. We had shown that in the normal volunteers, (mean ±SD) regional compliance (uL/mmHg) was greatest in the ascending aorta (38 ± 17), lower in the arch (30 ±15), and lowest in the descending aorta (17±7), and it decreased with age. In the patients with hypertension was significantly lower than in their age matched controls (12±6) versus (20±11) uL/mmHg, it was related inversely to mean arterial blood pressure. In the patients with coronary artery disease, it was significantly lower (14±7) versus (20±11) than in age matched controls, and was related inversely to serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and directly to serum low- density lipoprotein cholesterol. We conclude that M R I is a simple non-invasive method of measuring regional aortic compliance which decreased with age, HTN and CAD.