Aortic lumen diameter changes during systolic and diastolic periods: evaluation with ECG-gated computed tomography / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To characterize the changes in the dimensions during systolic and diastolic periods in the aorta with ECG-gated multi-detector CTA scans.Methods The CT angiograms of 115 patients (78 males,mean age 55.2 ± 9.4 years;37 females,mean age 60.1 ± 8.5 years) both in systolic and diastolic periods were obtained on a 64-slice ECG-gated multi-detector CT scanner.The diameters were measured at four anatomic levels of the aorta.(Level A1 mm proximal to the innominate artery;Level B1 mm distal to the left common carotid artery;Level C1 mm distal to the left subclavian artery;Level D10cm distal to the left subclavian artery).On each level,the maximal and the minimal diameters were measured both in systolic and diastolic periods.Results The paired sample t test results showed a significant difference between the systolic and diastolic diameters in all individual subjects on every level (P ＜0.001).The mean maximum diameter changes were 1.95％ (range-2.0％ to 7.0％),2.12％ (range-3.0％ to 6.0％),1.88％(range-1.0％ to 8.0％)and2.47％(range-3.0％ to 10.0％)at level A,B,C and D,respectively.The mean minimum diameter changes were 1.43％ (range-3.0％ to 5.0％),2.67％ (range-2.0％ to 11.0％),1.75％ (range-14.0％ to 9.0％)and 2.99％ (range -2.0％ to 11.0％) at level A,B,C and D,respectively.Conclusions The differences of the aortic diameters between systolic and diastolic periods are significant.The pulsatility of aorta in Chinese population may be different from published Western literature.