Effects Of Aging And Body Size On Ascending Aorta

Submitted By medilcm
Words: 1096
Pages: 5
Open Document
July 15, 2013
Article Review

“Effects of Aging and Body Size on Proximal and Ascending Aorta and Aortic Arch: Inner Edge-to-Inner Edge Reference Values in a Large Adult Population by Two-Dimensional Transthoracic Echocardiography”

Aortic size varies significantly with age and body size and is a predictor of cardiovascular disease. This is why obtaining an accurate assessment of the aorta is critical in guiding clinical and therapeutic decisions. A total of 500 consecutive studies between 2007 and 2012 were retrospectively included in the study in the presence of normal echocardiographic findings according to recent guidelines. The patients were referred for echocardiographic evaluation in the presence of routine cardiac evaluation, heart murmurs, suspicion of coronary artery disease, rhythm disturbances and other causes. 70 individuals had mild systemic arterial hypertension, defined as a documented history of mild high blood pressure without any abnormality on echocardiographic examination and specifically no left ventricular hypertrophy. The study aimed to include 25 or more subjects per gender and per age decade. Exclusions of poor quality echocardiographic images, obesity, diabetes, coronary, valve, congenital diseases, renal diseases, and previous cardiac percutaneous or surgical intervention. All patients were performed echocardiographic examinations, following the protocol of our laboratory. All exams were performed by iE33 or Vivid 7 ultrasound equipment with the appropriate 2D transthoracic probe. The diameters of the proximal aorta were measured at the aortic valve annulus, as the distance between the hinge points of the right and noncoronary leaflets, the diameter at the sinuses of Valsalva, the sinotubular junction, the ascending aorta, as the maximum diameter visualized, and the aortic arch, as the diameter in correspondence of the junction of the far wall of the left subclavian artery with the aorta and the angle of insertion of the aorta on the left ventricle was considered by tracing the anterior-septal wall midaxis and evaluating the angle formed with the aortic long axis through the leaflet coaptation point. All measurements were taken at end-diastole from the parasternal long axis view, except the aortic arch diameter which was taken from the suprasternal view. All measurements were taken by a single expert cardiologist. Clinical and echocardiographic characteristics are expressed as mean SD for continuous variables and as absolute numbers or percentages for categorical variables. Aortic indices were considered as absolute measures or as indexed to body surface area according to the DuBois formula. All parameters were quantified across age decades. Values in men and women were compared using unpaired tests. The relationship between aortic measurements and subject characteristics were investigated using bivariate linear regression. Independent associations between aging and aortic measurements were studied using multivariate linear regression, applying both ratiometric and allometric methods. Ratiometric AGr model was adjusted for sex only, ratiometric AGWHr included adjustments for gender, height, weight, and allometric AGWHa model was obtained adjusting for age after log transforming each aortic parameters of interest and regressing on log-transformed age, weight, and height. The latter adjustments for height and weight avoided the assumptions made in indexing measures to certain parameters of body size, such as BSA while allowing us to account for differences in body size. Patients who documented histories of mild hypertension as previously defined were documented histories in the reference ranges but excluded from further analysis concerning the influence of age and body size on normal aortic size, to avoid any possible bias of the results. To assess reproducibility, the main investigator repeated the analysis after a period of 2 weeks. A second independent observer, blinded to
Show More

Related Documents: Effects Of Aging And Body Size On Ascending Aorta

Mr Vaccine Was Fixed Summary

In the recent article, “How the Case against the MMR Vaccine Was fixed,” journalist Brian Deer discusses the wrongdoings and dishonorable decisions made by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Certain allegations made by Dr. Wakefield lead to a decade long health crisis in the United Kingdom which prompted a great wave of fear, guilt confusion, spawning every kind of worry over vaccinations in other countries. This worldwide dispute over the safety of vaccinations began after Wakefield’s scientific research paper…

Words 1293 - Pages 6

Cardiovascular System

coronary heart disease and arthrosclerosis, so studies of inflammatory biomarkers have been carried out in order to produce better treatment strategies. The question is what is special about CRP as an inflammatory biomarker than the rest; well the article answers this by its measurement being cheap and its high specificity in prognosis of CHD, and its surplus amounts of high sensitivity assays furthermore its discusses the biological role it portrays in artherogenesis through various mechanisms like…

Words 1711 - Pages 7

Development Of Tracheal Surgery

REVIEWS Development of Tracheal Surgery: A Historical Review. Part 1: Techniques of Tracheal Surgery Hermes C. Grillo, MD Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts espite the antiquity of tracheostomy, tracheal surgery was the last anatomic subdivision of cardiothoracic surgery to develop. In 1950, Belsey [1] observed that “The intrathoracic portion of the trachea is the last unpaired organ…

Words 9913 - Pages 40

NSAID Anti Inflammatory Essay

copyright law. This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or…

Words 3638 - Pages 15

Patrol Operations Outline Essay

1) Introduction to Patrol Operations Chapter 1 2) Words and Phrases To Remember a) Deployment b) Jurisdiction c) Military rank d) Patrouiller e) Third degree f) Ethics g) Community Policing h) Problem solving i) Prevention j) Repression k) Integrity l) Differential response m) 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 n) telephone communications 3) Organization and Leadership a) The Sheriff i) The sheriff is responsible for general enforcement of the laws throughout the county. He or she is also the keeper of the county jail…

Words 8998 - Pages 36

Gerontology and Older Adults Essay

Gerontological Nursing: core of aging people and emphasizes the promotion of the hiquest quality of life and wellness including social, emotioan andmental aspectrs 3 Growth of Gerontological Nursing  18C: Florence Nightingale period  1904: First article in AJN – “Care of Aged”  1950: First gerontological nursing text – “Geriatric Nursing” (K. Newton) 4 Growth of Gerontological Nursing (Cont)  1970: ANA standards of gerontological nursing practice  1973: Certification in gerontological…

Words 8953 - Pages 36