Doppler echocardiographic study of the consequences of aging and hypertension on the left ventricle and aorta

Abstract

The aims of the study were (1) to describe the consequences of aging and hypertension on left ventricular geometry and physical properties of the aorta, (2) to study interactions between some physical properties of the aorta and left ventricular geometry in normal (NT) and hypertensive patients (HT) using Doppler echocardiography. Forty-five healthy normotensive subjects (age range 21 to 84 years) and 20 untreated sustained hypertensive patients (age range 20 to 70 years) were studied. We measured (1) resting arterial blood pressure with a Dinamap, (2) left ventricular radius (r), thickness (th), mass (LVM), th/r ratio and aortic diameter (AD) by M-mode echocardiography with 2D control, and (3) pulse wave velocity (PWV) in the descending thoracic aorta from aortic velocity tracings recorded by pulsed wave Doppler in the isthmus and near the diaphragm. The PWV/AD ratio was derived. In hypertensive patients, blood pressure, PWV, AD, PWV/AD, th, th/r and LVM were significantly increased compared with normal subjects at a similar age. In normal subjects, PWV, AD, PWV/AD, th, r, th/r and LVM correlated significantly to age. In both groups, th/r ratio was significantly related to PWV and PWV/AD. The Doppler echocardiographic method of PWV measurement is feasible, reproducible and gives similar results to other methods, especially the invasive haemodynamic method. Doppler echocardiography is an adequate method to study left ventricular geometry and some physical properties of the aorta. It can be used to assess the consequences of aging and hypertension on both left ventricle (concentric hypertrophy) and aorta (increase of aortic stiffness).