Assessment of arterial stiffness with cardio-ankle vascular ındex in patients with mitral annular calcification

Abstract

Arterial stiffness is related to arteriolosclerotic diseases and is a marker of adverse cardiovascularevents. Mitral annular calcification (MAC) is progressive calcium deposition on the posterior and inferior mitral annulus and is associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI)is a measurement technique used to estimate the degree of arterial stiffness without effect from blood pressure. The aim of this study is to research arterial stiffness using CAVI in patients with MAC.Materials and Methods: The study was cross-sectional and observational and included 98 patients with MACconfirmed by echocardiography who referred to the cardiology clinics and met study inclusion criteria and 38controls without MAC. CAVI measurements were obtained by using the Vascular Screening System VaSeraVS-1000 (Fukuda Denshi, Tokyo, Japan) device.Results: The two groups were similar in terms of demographic characteristics, including age, sex, hypertension, coronary artery disease, body surface area, and smoking (P > .05). Left atrial volume index wassignificantly higher in patients with MAC compared with the control group (P < .001). Right arm CAVI, leftarm CAVI, and mean CAVI were significantly higher in the MAC group than the control group (P = .037, P= .005, and P = .014, respectively) and increased with MAC severity. There was a significant positive correlation between mean CAVI and MAC grade (r = 0.278, P = .001). Also, when ankle-brachial index (ABI) wasmeasured with CAVI, left and right extremity ABI values were significantly lower in patients with MAC (P =.017 and P = .005, respectively).Conclusion: CAVI increased in all patients with MAC and associated with increasing grade of calcification