Atherosclerotic lesion of the aorta: its study applying a biometric system using multivariate statistical techniques

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Pathology
• Biometrics
• Statistical Analysis

Background:

• Atherosclerosis is a significant cardiovascular disease.
• Characterizing atherosclerotic lesions (a.l.) in aorta segments is crucial for understanding disease progression.
• Existing methods may lack comprehensive quantitative analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new biometric system (BS) for characterizing atherosclerotic lesions in thoracic and abdominal aorta segments.
• To assess the utility of the BS in distinguishing between different levels of atherosclerotic burden.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 2043 autopsies performed between 1981-1985.
• Employed a biometric system with five variables: three lesion types (fatty streaks (X), fibrous plaques (Y), severe plaques (Z)) and two indices (stenosis (P), benignity (B)).
• Applied classical dissection, pathological procedures, gross morphometric analysis with a digitizer and microcomputer, and multivariate statistical techniques (Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Analysis (DA)).

Main Results:

• PCA identified a primary component of benignity (fatty streaks (X), benignity index (B)) and a secondary component of severity (severe plaques (Z), stenosis number (P)) in aorta segments.
• The biometric system (BS) demonstrated utility in characterizing the lesional state of aorta segments.
• Discriminant Analysis (DA) and BS successfully distinguished between high atherosclerotic groups (HAG) and low atherosclerotic groups (LAG) with over 70% correct classification.

Conclusions:

• The biometric system (BS) is effective for characterizing atherosclerotic lesions in aorta segments.
• The stenosis (P) and benignity (B) indices are highly relevant for differentiating atherosclerotic severity.
• The BS, validated by DA, provides a coherent and consistent method for assessing atherosclerotic burden.