Age-related and regional changes of aortic stiffness in the Marfan syndrome: Assessment with velocity-encoded MRI

Jos J.M. Westenberg, Arthur J.H.A. Scholte, Zuzana Vaskova, Rob J. Van Der Geest, Maarten Groenink, Gerda Labadie, Pieter J. Van Den Boogaard, Teodora Radonic, Yvonne Hilhorst-Hofstee, Barbara J.M. Mulder, Lucia J.M. Kroft, Johan H.C. Reiber, Albert De Roos

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Abstract

Purpose: To study age-related change in aortic stiffness in patients with Marfan syndrome (MFS) versus healthy volunteers using velocity-encoded (VE) MRI. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five MFS patients (age range, 18-63 years; mean age 36 ± 14 years, 13 men) and 25 age-/gender-matched healthy volunteers were examined with VE-MRI. Aortic stiffness was expressed by pulse wave velocity (PWV), assessed in the proximal and distal part of the aorta and in the total aorta. PWV was compared between patients and volunteers and age-relation was determined by linear regression. Results: PWV was significantly higher in all parts of the aorta in patients when compared with healthy volunteers (proximal aorta 5.7 ± 1.5 m/s versus 4.8 ± 0.9 m/s, distal aorta 6.4 ± 2.4 m/s versus 5.0 ± 1.2 m/s and total aorta 5.9 ± 1.7 m/s versus 4.9 ± 1.1 m/s, all P < 0.004). PWV correlated significantly with age (Pearson R between 0.45 and 0.94). Only in the proximal aorta, the increase in PWV with age was significantly higher in patients (7 ± 2 cm/s increase with age) than in volunteers (3 ± 1 cm/s increase, P = 0.03); in the distal or total aorta, the increase in PWV with age was not different between patients and volunteers. Conclusion: Velocity-encoded MRI detects more pronounced age-related aortic stiffening in the proximal aorta in MFS patients versus healthy volunteers, suggesting more severe wall disease in MFS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)526-531
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of magnetic resonance imaging
Volume34
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2011

Keywords

  • Marfan syndrome
  • aging
  • aortic stiffness
  • elasticity
  • magnetic resonance imaging

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