The association of elasticity indexes of ascending aorta and the presence and the severity of coronary artery disease.

Objectives: To investigate the association between elasticity indexes of aorta and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with stable CAD.

Methods: Fifty-six patients with CAD (CAD group) and 40 patients without CAD [non CAD (NCAD group)] were included in the study. Ascending aorta (Ao) diameters (mm) and Ao elastic indexes namely, Ao strain (AS), Ao distensibility (AD) were calculated from the echocardiographically derived Ao diameters and hemodynamic pressure measurements in all patients. Coronary angiography was performed in both CAD and NCAD groups. Severity of CAD was evaluated by using Gensini score index.

Results: Mean AD and AS measurements of CAD group were lower than that of NCAD group (P<0.001, for both). In CAD group, both AD and AS were associated with mean arterial blood pressure, presence of hypertension, Gensini score, left ventricle mass index, sex, and triglyceride levels in bivariate analysis (P<0.05, for all). CAD group's both AD (beta = -0.577, P = 0.003) and AS (beta = -0.494, P=0.021) were independently correlated with Gensini score in multiple linear regression analysis. The AD values of > or = 1.24 predict presence of low Gensini score (< or = 26 for this study) with sensitivity of 88.2% and specificity of 84.6% with area under the curve of 0.94; whereas the AS values of > or = 3.36 predict presence of low Gensini score with sensitivity of 82.4% and specificity of 87.2% with area under the curve of 0.873.

Conclusion: Findings of this study have shown that AD and AS were independently associated with severity of CAD and that impaired elasticity indexes of the aorta might be independent predictors for the severity of coronary atherosclerosis.