Investigation of the correlation between cardiac parameters and aortic diameter in patients with ascending aortic aneurysm

BACKGROUND: Aortic aneurysms (AA) are enlargement of the aorta silently until diagnosing, not detectable on physical examination, and usually incidentally discovered during radiologic scanning for other reasons. It can get bigger sizes and can result in life-threatening outcomes if not detected early on. In this study, we aimed to determine the relationship between ascending aortic diameter and cardiac parameters that can be detected with tomography or/and echocardiography. Newly diagnosed (n: 85) ascending AA patients and healthy individuals (n: 86) who have not any thoracic pathology in computed tomography (CT) scans included to the study. Echocardiographically determined left atrial dimension (LAD), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVDd), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVDs), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and the left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWd) values of each patient were recorded. The thorax diameters, ascending aorta diameters and cardiac volume values recorded from CT scans. The obtained findings were statistically compared. RESULTS: Positive correlation was found between aortic diameter and aging (p: 0.000). Increased thorax diameter and cardiac volume values were detected in ascending AA cases (p < 0.05). It was found to be ascending aortic diameter was positively correlated with thorax diameter and cardiac volume (0.50 < r ≤ 0.70) values and higher aortic diameter, cardiac volume, thorax diameter values were detected in male individuals when compared with the female gender. There was no significant correlation between LVEF, LVDd, and LVDs values and aortic diameter. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac volume and thorax diameter were found as strongly correlated with the diameter of the ascending aorta. The clarifying of these parameters with larger cohorts might be beneficial for the estimation of the progression of ascending AA.