Assessment of myocardial performance index and its association with aortic elasticity in patients with ascending aortic aneurysm

OBJECTIVE
Ascending aortic aneurysms (AAA) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, their effects on global cardiac functions are yet to be fully understood. Myocardial performance index (MPI) has been widely used to quantitatively assess myocardial functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate left ventricular (LV) functions in patients with AAA using tissue Doppler (TD) echocardiography and MPI in addition to conventional echocardiographic methods.

METHODS
Fifty patients with AAA (33 men, 17 woman; mean age 55.5±7.90 years) were included, and 106 patients without aortic dilatation (mean age 54.1±8.18 years) were included as the control group. LV systolic and diastolic functions were analyzed using 2-dimensional, M-mode, and TD echocardiography.

RESULTS
Patients with AAA had significantly higher MPI (0.5±0.04 vs 0.4±0.05, p<0.001), TD-MPI (0.5±0.02 vs 0.4±0.03, p<0.001), and reduced aortic elasticity, as indicated by reduced aortic distensibility (AD) (1.7±1.27 vs 3.1±1.25, p<0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that TD-MPI was independently correlated with reduced aortic distensibility (B=-0.006, p=0.019, 95% confidence interval,-0.011 to -0.001).

CONCLUSION
MPI and TD-MPI indicated impairment of global cardiac functions in patients with AAA, which may be attributed to reduced aortic elasticity.