The correlation between carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and composition of the aortic media in CAD patients with or without hypertension

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influence of hypertension on large artery elasticity and the microstructure of the ascending aortic media in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), and the association between arterial compliance and composition of the ascending aorta. METHODS: 60 patients with CAD who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery were divided into two groups: 30 patients in a hypertension group and 30 patients in a non-hypertension group. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) was measured by an automatic device (Complior, Artech, France). The severity of coronary atherosclerosis was assessed after selective coronary angiography using the Gensini score system. A quantitative study was conducted on ascending aorta specimens by histological and computer image analysis. RESULTS: cfPWV of the hypertension group was higher than that of the non-hypertension group. The relative content of collagen in the ascending aortic media of the hypertension group was higher than that of the non-hypertension group, while the relative content of elastin in the ascending aortic media of the hypertension group was lower than that of the non-hypertension group. cfPWV showed a positive correlation with relative contents of collagen in the ascending aorta and a negative correlation with relative contents of elastin in the ascending aorta in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension may raise the contents of collagen and decrease the contents of elastin in the ascending aortic media of patients with CAD, which in turn may decrease the patients’ large artery compliance. cfPWV may reflect the quantitative changes of collagen and elastin in the ascending aortic media in CAD patients independently of hypertension.

Keywords

• aorta
• Collagen
• coronary artery disease
• Elasticity
• pulse wave velocity