Valentina Taviani1, Stacey S. Hickson2,
Christopher J. Hardy3, Andrew James Patterson1,
1Department of Radiology, University of
Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 2Clinical
Pharmacology Unit, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital,
Cambridge, United Kingdom; 3GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY,
United States
Age-related
changes of regional aortic compliance play a crucial role in the
pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease. Fourier velocity encoded (FVE)
M-mode can produce Doppler-like time-velocity traces with high temporal and
spatial resolution along relatively straight arterial segments. In this work,
FVE M-mode was used to measure global and regional pulse wave velocity (PWV)
in the descending aorta of 56 healthy subjects. A significant nonlinear
relationship between overall PWV and age was found (r2=0.73, p<0.001). The
distal thoracic aorta was found to stiffen the most with age, followed by the
proximal and distal abdominal aorta.