Ultrasound Time-Harmonic Elastography of the Aorta: Effect of Age and Hypertension on Aortic Stiffness
Objectives
The aim of this study was to investigate ultrasound time-harmonic elastography for quantifying aortic stiffness in vivo in the context of aging and arterial hypertension.
Materials and Methods
Seventy-four participants (50 healthy participants and 24 participants with long-standing hypertension) were prospectively included between January 2018 and October 2018, and underwent ultrasound time-harmonic elastography of the upper abdominal aorta. Compound maps of shear-wave speed (SWS) as a surrogate of tissue stiffness were generated from multifrequency wave fields covering the full field-of-view of B-mode ultrasound. Blood pressure and pulse wave velocity were measured beforehand. Interobserver and intraobserver agreement was determined in 30 subjects. Reproducibility of time-harmonic elastography was assessed in subgroups with repeated measurements after 20 minutes and after 6 months. Linear regression analysis, with subsequent age adjustment of SWS obtained, receiver operating characteristic analysis, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used for statistical evaluation.
Results
Linear regression analysis revealed a significant effect of age on SWS with an increase by 0.024 m/s per year (P
Source: Investigative Radiology - Category: Radiology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research