Site-specific coupling between vascular wall thickness and function: an observational MRI study of vessel wall thickening and stiffening in hypertension.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate associations between aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and aortic and carotid vessel wall thickness (VWT) using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with hypertension as compared with healthy adult volunteers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Local medical ethics approval was obtained and the participants gave informed consent. Fifteen patients with hypertension (5 men and 10 women; mean [SD] age, 49 [14] years) and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were prospectively included and compared. All participants underwent MRI examination for measuring aortic and carotid VWT and aortic PWV with well-validated MRI techniques at 1.5- and 3-T MRI systems: PWV was assessed from velocity-encoded MRI and VWT was assessed by using dual-inversion black-blood gradient-echo imaging techniques. Paired t tests were used for testing differences between the volunteers and the patients and Pearson correlation (r) and univariable and multivariable stepwise linear regression analyses were used to test associations between aortic and carotid arterial wall thickness and stiffness. RESULTS: Mean values for aortic PWV and aortic and carotid VWT (indexed for body surface area [BSA]) were all significantly higher in patients with hypertension as compared with the healthy volunteers (ie, aortic PWV, 7.0 ± 1.4 m/s vs 5.7 ± 1.3 m/s; aortic VWT/BSA, 0.12 ± 0.03 mL/m vs 0.10 ± 0.03 mL/m; carotid VWT/BSA, 0.04 ± 0.01 mL/m vs 0.03 ± 0.01 mL/m; all P < 0.01). Aortic PWV was highly correlated with aortic VWT/BSA (r = 0.76 and P = 0.002 in the patients vs r = 0.63 and P = 0.02 in the volunteers), and in the patients, aortic PWV was moderately correlated with carotid VWT/BSA (r = 0.50; P = 0.04). In the volunteers, correlation between aortic PWV and carotid VWT/BSA was not significant (r = 0.40; P = 0.13). In addition, aortic VWT/BSA was significantly correlated with carotid VWT/BSA, in both the patients (r = 0.60; P = 0.005) and volunteers (r = 0.57; P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: In the patients with hypertension and the healthy volunteers, the aortic PWV is associated more strongly with aortic wall thickness than with carotid wall thickness, reflecting site-specific coupling between vascular wall thickness and function.

Lukemalla pragmatisteja enemmän luulee vähemmän

Kirjoitus on vastine artikkeleihin (Roos 2003, Roos & Rotkirch 2003a, 2003b).

Habituksen paluu? : evoluutioteorian huomioimisesta sosiologian ihmisnäkemyksessä (osa 2)

Kirjoitus on jatkoa Tieteessä tapahtuu -lehdessä 1/2003 julkaistulle kirjoitukselle

Massa och energi - än en gång

Vastine Martti Pekkasen ja Jukka Maalammen keskusteluun Tieteessä tapahtuu-lehdissä 7/2001, 1/2002, 2/2002 ja 3/2002

Kielipelit ja ihmisluonto Kivisen mukaan

Kirjoitus on vastine Osmo Kivisen kommenttiin (Roos & Rotkirch, Tieteessä tapahtuu 3/2003).

Moraalinen valinta ei selity luonnonvalinnalla

Vastine TT -lehden artikkeliin 1/2004, jossa Heikki Sarjama, J.P. Roos ja Hannu Virtanen kritisoivat kirjoittajan artikkelia TT -lehdessä 8/2003

Osmo Kiviselle

Vastine Osmo Kivisen kirjoitukseen Tieteessä tapahtuu lehdessä 2/2003

Westermarck-muistoluento uusiksi?

Steve Fullerin Westermarck-muistoluennon (Sosiologia 1/2003) kritiikkiä

Filosofiassa mikään ei muutu

Kirjoitus on vastine Juhani Pietarisen kirjoitukseen Tieteessä tapahtuu -lehdessä 8/2003.

Assessment of the carotid artery by MRI at 3T: a study on reproducibility

PURPOSE: To examine the reproducibility of carotid artery dimension measurements using 3T MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers underwent three scans on two occasions for assessment of total vessel wall area (TVWA), total luminal area (TLA), and minimum (MinT) and maximum (MaxT) vessel wall thickness. A double inversion-recovery (IR) fast gradient-echo (FGRE) sequence was used on a commercial 3T system. During the first visit the subjects were scanned twice. The third scan was performed at least four days later. One observer traced all scans, and a second observer retraced the first scan series. RESULTS: For TVWA an interclass correlation (ICC) of 0.994 was calculated with all three scans taken into account. The interobserver ICC was 0.984. The agreement between the scans for TLA showed an ICC of 0.982 with an interobserver ICC of 0.998. For MinT and MaxT an ICC of 0.843 and 0.935 were calculated, with interobserver ICCs of 0.860 and 0.726, respectively. CONCLUSION: With the use of a commercial 3T MR system, TVWA, TLA, and wall thickness measurements of the carotid artery can be assessed with good reproducibility.