Background: Arterial stiffness, assessed by aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), has been reported to predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We used a new and easy method for aortic arch to abdominal aorta PWV (aaPWV) during bedside echocardiography. We assessed the association between arterial stiffness, as determined by aaPWV, and occult coronary artery disease(CAD) and age.
METHOD: We enrolled 104 individuals, aged 38 to 80 years, who had undergone echocardiography (50 patients of CAD group and 52 patients of non-CAD group). PW Doppler was measured at descending part of arotic arch and abdominal aorta below the diaphragm. aaPWV was calculated with the distance and the time interval of PW-wave between the two levels.
RESULT: Mean age of CAD group was 62.3 and non-CAD group was 61.7. aaPWV could be easily measured in most patients. We found that aaPWV was significantly higher in CAD group than non-CAD group (7.2 짹 2.8 m/s vs. 5.8 짹 1.6 m/s , p=0.005). We found that aaPWV was positively correlated with age (R짼=0.249).
CONCLUSION: aaPWV was easy and useful method for measure aortic PWV during bedside echocardiography. aaPWV is increased with age and may have predictive value for CAD.