HEMODYNAMIC PREDICTORS OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN THE THORACIC AORTA

We sought to identify atherosclerotic plaques and measured flow parame ters in. the descending aorta (DA) of 83 consecutive patients (40 year s and older) studied with transesophageal echocardiography. Patients w ith atherosclerotic plaques in, the DA were older (68 +/- 10 vs 58 +/- 12 years [P = 0.0001]), had a higher proportion of spontaneous echo c ontrast in. the DA (15/46 [33%] us 3 of 37 [8%] P = 0.02), had larger aortic diameters (2.52 +/- 0.35 vs 2.37 +/- 0.36 cm [P = 0.06]), had a lower maximal velocity in the DA (54.2 +/- 21.5 us 73.8 +/- 33.0 cm/s ec [P = 0.02]), and had a lower calculated maximal shear rate (SR) (88 .0 +/- 37.6 vs 129.0 +/- 67.0 sec(-1) [P = 0.002]). There was no signi ficant difference between groups with respect to sex, hypertension, di abetes, total cholesterol, and smoking. In multivariate analysis only age (P = 0.002) and maximal SR (P = 0.03) were identified as independe nt predictors of atherosclerosis in the DA. We conclude that low SR is associated with aortic atherosclerosis.