Heart failureAortic Root Growth in Men and Women With the Marfan’s Syndrome
Section snippets
Methods
From January 1993 to December 2003, 221 adults with definite diagnoses of MS were prospectively followed with serial echocardiograms of the native aortic root.5 Only patients aged ≥18 years for whom ≥2 echocardiograms were available were included. From these patients, information regarding cardiovascular status, family history of MS, and the use of β-blocking agents was obtained. Echocardiographic measurements of the largest aortic root diameter were made by M-mode and cross-sectional
Gender differences
The clinical characteristics of the 113 men and 108 women are listed in Table 1. At baseline, women had on average a 5 -mm (SE 0.86) smaller aortic root diameter adjusted for age than men. During follow-up, significantly more elective aortic root replacements were performed in men than in women (26 [23%] vs 13 [12%], p = 0.03). In contrast, fewer type A dissections occurred in men than in women (4 [4%] vs 9 [8%], p = 0.13).
Aortic root growth
Change in aortic root diameter with age is illustrated separately for
Discussion
Our study provides data on the natural course of aortic root growth in a very large population of men and women with MS. Aortic root diameter corrected for age differed between men and women. Approximately 15% of men and 11% of women had fast-growing aortic roots and were at increased risk for type A dissections. A formula is provided to identify patients at risk for fast-growing aortic roots.
In current guidelines for elective aortic root surgery, aortic root diameter differences between men
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