BP, fatty deposits not main cause of bulging arteries
ANI
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Washington - Contrary to earlier beliefs, high blood
pressure, fatty deposits and other risk factors are not
the major reasons for aortic aneurysm or the ballooning
of blood vessels near the heart, according to a Mayo
Clinic study.
The study found that age, gender and body size together
accounted for one-third or more of the cases of aortic
dilatation, while atherosclerosis and related risk
factors only explained 3 percent. The findings of the
study have been published in the Journal of the American
College of Cardiology.
"Atherosclerotic plaques and the risk factors that cause
them, including hypertension, classically have been
considered important potential causes of the expansion of
the aorta," says Bijoy Khandheria, a Mayo Clinic
cardiologist and lead author of the study.
"Intuitively, it makes sense that high blood pressure
would stretch the vessel walls and make them more likely
to become enlarged. This study shows that while these
risk factors are highly important in a host of diseases
and conditions, they are bit players when it comes to
causing the dilatation of the aorta that can lead to
aneurysm," he says.
The researchers studied the expansion of the aorta in a
sample of 581 Olmsted County, Minn., residents using
transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). TEE is similar to
fetal ultrasounds used during pregnancy and conventional
echocardiographic heart imaging. Instead of coming from
outside of the body, however, the ultrasound waves in TEE
are emitted from a probe that is inserted down the throat
giving much clearer images of the great blood vessels
surrounding the heart.
"There has been a tendency recently to refer to aneurysms
as 'athersclerotic aneurysms,'" explains Khandheria. "But
the fact that plaques, even complex or severe ones, are
very common, while aneurysms are rare, supports the
conclusion that atherosclerosis and its risk factors are
not likely to blame for aneurysms in the major blood
vessels of the chest."
Researchers say that the other factors and processes,
including genetic diseases similar to Marfan syndrome,
seem to be more important. "In addition to providing
reference values to physicians on the normal range of
aorta measurements in a community, this study should spur
further investigation into those other causes," he says.
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