Investigation of elastic features of aorta and color M-mode flow propagation velocity (APV) of descending aorta in the patients with ischemic and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Aortic flow propagation velocity (APV) is a novel echocardiographic parameter used in coronary artery disease. It has also been used for the evaluation of aortic stiffness. In the present study, APV was measured in patients with ischemic and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and was compared with the parameters of aortic stiffness such as aortic distensibility (AD) and aortic strain (AS). A total of 140 patients who had undergone coronary angiographic imaging were included in the study. Out of these patients, 44 had ischemic DCM, 46 had non-ischemic DCM, and 50 had normal coronary angiography (control group). AS, AD, and APV were calculated echocardiographically. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare continuous variables between the groups, while the categorical variables were compared using Pearson's Chi square test. Pearson's correlation test was used to investigate the parameters associated with APV, AS, and AD. Ischemic DCM and non-ischemic DCM groups differed significantly. The comparison of these groups with the control group, in terms of AS, AD, and APV values (ANOVA p < 0.001 for all) also showed a significant difference. APV was found to be significantly correlated with AS (r = 0.645, p < 0.001) and AD (r = 0.604, p < 0.001). In ROC analysis, the area under the curve (AUC) value for APV was 0.999 (p = 0.000) for detection of patients ischemic DCM and non-ischemic DCM. APV may be considered to be a novel and a simple echocardiographic marker, for both, distinguishing ischemic from non-ischemic DCM as well as for the presence of dilated cardiomyopathy with or without critical coronary artery disease.