Aortic Stiffness and Distensibility as Predictor to Severity of Coronary Artery Disease

Cardiovascular disease leading cause of death, resulting in a number of annually deceased people higher than from any other. The great incidence of cardiovascular diseases in the world spurred the search for new solutions to enable an early detection of pathological processes The early detection based in multi-parameters of pathological condition is the key to the patient survival .The arterial stiffness is the first vessels modification, responsible for several pathological processes, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases. The normal aging process is associated with an increase in vascular stiffness which is accelerated by atherosclerosis, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Several studies have revealed that increased aortic stiffness is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and also is a predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Interest in arterial stiffness waned in the early 1900s with the advent of the sphygmomanometer, which offered a quantitative measure of blood pressure and risk prediction . Another factor is Aortic distensibility which is a measurement of vascular elasticity, and reflects the stiffness of the aorta . Aortic distensibility is markedly decreased in patients with known coronary artery disease . and is inversely proportional to the severity of Coronary artery disease . Two-dimensional and tissue Doppler imaging derived parameters of ascending aorta have been found to be abnormal, indicating increased Aortic stiffness and impaired Aortic distensibility in subjects with coronary artery disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. However, the direct correlation of Aortic stiffness with Coronary artery disease is hard to examine as most of these patients are old and have comorbidities such as hypertension, So Investigation of these parameters should be done in patients who are normotensive as most of these patients do not have confounding factors that increase Aortic stiffness. Although the relationship between Aortic distensibility and Aortic stiffness and atherosclerosis is well known , the possible relation between them and the extent and complexity of coronary artery disease. as assessed using SYNTAX score has not been clearly determined yet. The SYNTAX score is a lesion-based angiographic scoring system originally devised to grade the complexity of coronary artery disease. . It is related to adverse cardiovascular events and predicts mortality and morbidity in patients with coronary artery disease.