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[Wall elasticity of the ascending aorta in ischemic heart disease]
N Alessandri1, S Franzin, L Sulpizii
1II Cattedra di Cardiologia, Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Roma.
Insights
Regular exercise benefits the aorta, maintaining its elasticity and stiffness even in senior athletes. Advanced age and vascular disease, however, lead to aortic stiffening and reduced elasticity.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Vascular Biology
- Echocardiography
Background:
- The aging process and vascular disease can alter the physical properties of the aorta.
- Understanding these changes is crucial for assessing cardiovascular health and disease risk.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of age, athletic lifestyle, and vascular disease on the physical properties of the ascending aorta.
- To determine if regular physical activity can mitigate age-related aortic stiffening.
Main Methods:
- M-mode echocardiography was employed to assess ascending aorta dimensions and elasticity-stiffness parameters.
- Subjects were categorized into three groups: young healthy men, senior athletes, and patients with effort angina.
Main Results:
- Ascending aorta diameter increased with age but was not related to body surface area.
- Senior athletes exhibited similar aortic elasticity and stiffness parameters to young healthy men.
- Patients with effort angina showed significantly reduced aortic elasticity and increased stiffness.
Conclusions:
- Competitive sports activity appears to have protective effects on aortic properties, counteracting age-related changes.
- Vascular disease is associated with detrimental alterations in aortic mechanical properties.
- Physical characteristics of major vessels may not inherently change with age if maintained through physical activity.
Abstract:
M-mode echocardiography was used to examine in male subjects the physical properties of the ascending aorta, 3 cm above the valvular plane. Subjects were divided into three groups based on age, lifestyle and presence or absence of vascular disease: Group A (10 recruited military young men, age 20.87 +/- 0.834 years) in good health; Group B (14 senior competitive athletes, age 49.92 +/- 8.17 years); Group C (10 patients with effort-angina, age 53.1 +/- 11.18 years). We observed that: the inner diastolic diameter of the ascending aorta was different between Group A and B (p < 0.001) and between Group A and C (p < 0.001), and it increased with aging (r = 0.7) whereas no relationship to body surface was seen (r = 0.3); the elasticity-stiffness parameters (aortic wall distensibility, aortic wall stress, wall stiffness index, wall elasticity index and modulus) of major vessels in senior athletes (Group B), were not different (p > 0.05) from military young men (Group A), although they were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in Group C patients; wall elasticity was lower in Group C patients (versus both Group A and B). Altered compliance might be the consequence of vessel structural changes and may contribute to reduce blood flow to the coronary arteries. Our data suggest that sports activity has beneficial effects; physical characteristics of great vessels do not show age-related changes.