324 Multimodal imaging assessment of arterial stiffness in patients with repaired aortic coarctation versus normal subjects

Abstract

Despite successful surgical correction, morbidity of patients with coarctation of the aorta(CoAo) is high. The increased large arteries stiffness may be related to their impaired prognosis. The aim of the study is to asses the relationship between aortic stiffness parameters (2D echo), aortic wall velocities (tissue Doppler imaging, TDI) and carotid stiffness parameters (e-tracking) in pts. with repaired CoAo. Study group consisted of 23 pts. with repaired CoAo (mean age 28,6 ± 9,9 yrs) and 20 matched healthy subjects. Aortic elasticity was assessed using M-mode evaluation of aortic diameters, then calculating accepted indexes: aortic strain (Ao Strain), distensibility (Ao Dis), stiffness index (Ao SI). Systolic maximum expansion velocity (SW) of aortic wall was assesed using TDI.E-tracking determined parameters were: pulse wave velocity (PWV), stiffness index (β), elastic modulus (Ep), arterial compliance (AC). When correlating (table) the parameters derived from the 3 methods, statistical significant association (*) was obtained for Ao M-mode derived stiffness parameters and SW. Only PWV correlated with Ao Dis and Ao Strain, while PWV and β correlated with SW. Ao Dis Ao Strain Ao SI SW PWV -,343(*) -,349(*) 0,01 -,388(*) AI -0,12 -0,16 0,08 -0,2 Beta -0,22 -0,22 0,09 -,373(*) Ep -0,26 -0,26 -0,03 -0,29 AC 0,17 0,13 0,08 -0,12 SW ,554(**) ,578(**) -,494(**) Precoarctational bed arteries stiffness parameters assessed by different techniques showed partly concordant results. While M-mode derived parameters of aortic elasticity are time-consuming, they could be replaced in daily practice by aortic wall TDI evaluation. Carotid stiffness indexes measured by e-tracking are complementary to aortic stiffness parameters.