Correlation between the ascending aortic elasticity evaluated by speckle tracking imaging and the coronary artery lesion of patients with coronary heart disease

Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the elastic function of ascending aortic in patients with coronary heart disease（CHD） by two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging（2D-STI），and to explore its correlation with the degree of coronary artery lesion.Methods A total of 206 patients with suspected CHD who were admitted to our hospital due to chest tiredness or chest pain from January 2020 to March 2021 were enrolled in the study. All subjects underwent echocardiography，and routine arterial stiffness indexes such as the ascending aortic distensibility（AoDIS），ascending aortic stiffness index（AoSI） and ascending aortic strain values were calculated. Then 2D-STI was used to measure the global circumferential ascending aortic peak strain（GCAAS） and circumferential ascending aortic peak strain rate（CAASR）. According to the results of coronary angiography and Gensini score（GS），they were divided into CAD group（mild group，moderate group and severe group） and control group.Results ①AoDIS，ascending aortic strain value，GCAAS and CAASR in the CHD group were lower than those in the control group，and AoSI in the CHD group was higher than that in the control group（all P<0.05）. ②Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that man，diabetes，hypertension，left ventricular ejection fraction （LVEF），AoDIS，GCAAS and CAASR were all risk factors for CHD（all P<0.05）. After multivariate analysis，GCAAS was still a risk factor for CHD（P<0.001）. ③In the CHD group，GCAAS and CAASR decreased as the severity of coronary artery lesion increased（P=0.003，P=0.015）. GCAAS and CAASR in the severe group were significantly lower than those in the mild group（P=0.001，P=0.012）. Spearman correlation analysis showed that GCAAS was moderately correlated with GS（r_s=-0.411，P<0.001），while CAASR was weakly correlated with GS（r_s=-0.228，P=0.027）.Conclusion The ascending aortic strain of 2D-STI is superior to conventional ultrasound technology in reflecting the early changes in the elasticity of the ascending aortic in patients with CHD. The global circumferential ascending aortic strain is closely related to the occurrence and progression of CHD and the severity of coronary artery lesion.