Aortic root, not valve, calcification correlates with coronary artery calcification in patients with severe aortic stenosis: A two-center study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Aortic root, not valve, calcification correlates with coronary artery calcification in patients with severe aortic stenosis

T2 - A two-center study

AU - Henein, Michael

AU - Hällgren, Peter

AU - Holmgren, Anders

AU - Sörensen, Karen

AU - Ibrahimi, Pranvera

AU - Kofoed, Klaus Fuglsang

AU - Larsen, Linnea Hornbech

AU - Hassager, Christian

N1 - Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2015/12/1

Y1 - 2015/12/1

N2 - BACKGROUND: The underlying pathology in aortic stenosis (AS) and coronary artery stenosis (CAS) is similar including atherosclerosis and calcification. We hypothesize that coronary artery calcification (CAC) is likely to correlate with aortic root calcification (ARC) rather than with aortic valve calcification (AVC), due to tissue similarity between the two types of vessel rather than with the valve leaflet tissue.MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 212 consecutive patients (age 72.5 ± 7.9 years, 91 females) with AS requiring aortic valve replacement (AVR) in two Heart Centers, who underwent multidetector cardiac CT preoperatively. CAC, AVC and ARC were quantified using Agatston scoring. Correlations were tested by Spearman's test and Mann-Whitney U-test was used for comparing different subgroups; bicuspid (BAV) vs tricuspid (TAV) aortic valve.RESULTS: CAC was present in 92%, AVC in 100% and ARC in 82% of patients. CAC correlated with ARC (rho = 0.51, p < 0.001) but not with AVC. The number of calcified coronary arteries correlated with ARC (rho = 0.45, p < 0.001) but not with AVC. 29/152 patients had echocardiographic evidence of BAV and 123 TAV, who were older (p < 0.001) but CAC was associated with TAV even after adjusting for age (p = 0.01). AVC score was associated with BAV after adjusting for age (p = 0.03) but ARC was not. Of the total cohort, 82 patients (39%) had significant coronary stenosis (>50%), but these were not different in the pattern of calcification from those without CAS. CAC was consistently higher in patients with risk factors for atherosclerosis compared to those without.CONCLUSION: The observed relationship between coronary and aortic root calcification suggests a diffuse arterial disease. The lack of relationship between coronary and aortic valve calcification suggests a different pathology.

AB - BACKGROUND: The underlying pathology in aortic stenosis (AS) and coronary artery stenosis (CAS) is similar including atherosclerosis and calcification. We hypothesize that coronary artery calcification (CAC) is likely to correlate with aortic root calcification (ARC) rather than with aortic valve calcification (AVC), due to tissue similarity between the two types of vessel rather than with the valve leaflet tissue.MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 212 consecutive patients (age 72.5 ± 7.9 years, 91 females) with AS requiring aortic valve replacement (AVR) in two Heart Centers, who underwent multidetector cardiac CT preoperatively. CAC, AVC and ARC were quantified using Agatston scoring. Correlations were tested by Spearman's test and Mann-Whitney U-test was used for comparing different subgroups; bicuspid (BAV) vs tricuspid (TAV) aortic valve.RESULTS: CAC was present in 92%, AVC in 100% and ARC in 82% of patients. CAC correlated with ARC (rho = 0.51, p < 0.001) but not with AVC. The number of calcified coronary arteries correlated with ARC (rho = 0.45, p < 0.001) but not with AVC. 29/152 patients had echocardiographic evidence of BAV and 123 TAV, who were older (p < 0.001) but CAC was associated with TAV even after adjusting for age (p = 0.01). AVC score was associated with BAV after adjusting for age (p = 0.03) but ARC was not. Of the total cohort, 82 patients (39%) had significant coronary stenosis (>50%), but these were not different in the pattern of calcification from those without CAS. CAC was consistently higher in patients with risk factors for atherosclerosis compared to those without.CONCLUSION: The observed relationship between coronary and aortic root calcification suggests a diffuse arterial disease. The lack of relationship between coronary and aortic valve calcification suggests a different pathology.

U2 - 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.10.014

DO - 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.10.014

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26551591

SN - 0021-9150

VL - 243

SP - 631

EP - 637

JO - Atherosclerosis

JF - Atherosclerosis

IS - 2

ER -