Objective: While severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) primarily affects lung tissue, it may cause direct or indirect damage to the cardiovascular system, and permanent damage may occur. Arterial stiffness is an early indicator of cardiovascular disease risk. The aim of our study was to establish the potential effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the vascular system evaluated by transthoracic echocardiographic examination.
Subjects And Methods: This study compared arterial stiffness between the survivors of COVID-19 and those without a history of COVID-19 infection. The difference in aortic diameter was examined using echocardiography.
Results: The study included 50 patients who survived COVID-19 in the last 3-6 months and 50 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. In surviving COVID-19 patients, aortic diastolic diameter in cm ([3.1 ± 0.2] vs. [2.9 ± 0.1], p < 0.001), pulse pressure (PP) ([43.02 ± 14.05] vs. [35.74 ± 9.86], p = 0.004), aortic distensibility ([5.61 ± 3.57] vs. [8.31 ± 3.82], p < 0.001), aortic strain ([10.56 ± 4.91] vs. [13.88 ± 5.86], p = 0.003), PP/stroke volume index ([1.25 ± 0.47] vs. [0.98 ± 0.28], p = 0.001), and aortic stiffness index ([2.82 ± 0.47] vs. [2.46 ± 0.45], p < 0.001) were statistically significant compared to the control group.
Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 may cause reduced or impaired aortic elasticity parameters linked to impaired arterial wall function in COVID-19 survivors compared with controls.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000522626 | DOI Listing |
Heliyon
July 2024
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China.
Recent studies have attempted to characterize the layer-specific mechanical and microstructural properties of the aortic tissues in either normal or pathological state to understand its structural-mechanical property relationships. However, layer-specific tissue mechanics and compositions of normal and dissected ascending aortas have not been thoroughly compared with a statistical conclusion obtained. Eighteen ascending aortic specimens were harvested from 13 patients with type A aortic dissection and 5 donors without aortic diseases, with each specimen further excised to obtain three tissue samples including an intact wall, an intima-media layer and an adventitia layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Biol Med
January 2025
UCL Mechanical Engineering, University College London, UK; Ri.MED Foundation, Palermo, Italy; University of Palermo, Department of Engineering, Palermo, Italy. Electronic address:
Aortic valve replacements, both surgical and transcatheter, are nowadays widely employed treatments. Although clinically effective, these procedures are correlated with potentially severe clinical complications which can be associated with the non-physiological haemodynamics that they establish. In this work, the fluid dynamics changes produced by surgical and transcatheter aortic valve replacements are analysed and compared with an ideal healthy native valve configuration, employing advanced fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArterial compliance (AC) is an important cardiovascular parameter characterizing mechanical properties of arteries. AC is significantly influenced by arterial wall structure and vasomotion, and it markedly influences cardiac load. A new method, based on a two-element Windkessel model, has been recently proposed for estimating AC as the ratio of the time constant T of the diastolic blood pressure decay and peripheral vascular resistance derived from clinically available stroke volume measurements and selected peripheral blood pressure parameters which are less prone to peripheral distortions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi
December 2024
Institute of Basic Medicine, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Beijing 100091, China.
This study aimed to investigate the potential mechanism and the compatibility significance of Tanyu Tongzhi Formula in treating atherosclerosis(AS) in mice based on the transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)/Smad2/3 signaling pathway. Eight C57BL/6J mice were as assigned to a normal control group and fed a regular diet, while 35 ApoE~(-/-) mice of the same strain were fed a high-fat diet for 8 weeks to establish an AS model. The model mice were randomly divided into a model group, a Tanyu Tongzhi group(18.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
December 2024
Department of Vascular Surgery, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) are rare but serious conditions characterized by dilation of the aorta characterized by remodeling of the vessel wall, with changes in the elastin and collagen content. Individuals with Marfan syndrome have a genetic predisposition for elastic fiber fragmentation and elastin degradation and are prone to early aneurysm formation and progression. Our objective was to analyze the medial collagen characteristics through histological, polarized light microscopy, and electron microscopy methods across the thoracic and abdominal aorta in twenty-five patients undergoing open surgical repair, including nine with Marfan syndrome.
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