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Low wall stress in the popliteal artery: Other mechanisms responsible for the predilection of aneurysmal dilatation?

De Basso, Rachel ; Astrand, Hakan ; Rydén Ahlgren, Åsa LU orcid ; Sandgren, Thomas and Lanne, Toste (2014) In Vascular Medicine 19(2). p.131-136
Abstract
The popliteal artery (PA) is, after aorta, the most common site for aneurysm formation. Why the PA is more susceptible than other peripheral muscular arteries is unknown. We hypothesized that the wall composition, which in turn affects wall properties, as well as the circumferential wall stress (WS) imposed on the arterial wall, might differ compared to other muscular arteries. The aim was to study the WS of the PA in healthy subjects with the adjacent, muscular, common femoral artery (CFA) as a comparison. Ninety-four healthy subjects were included in this study (45 males, aged 10-78 years and 49 females, aged 10-83 years). The diameter and intima-media thickness (IMT) in the PA and CFA were investigated with ultrasound. Together with... (More)
The popliteal artery (PA) is, after aorta, the most common site for aneurysm formation. Why the PA is more susceptible than other peripheral muscular arteries is unknown. We hypothesized that the wall composition, which in turn affects wall properties, as well as the circumferential wall stress (WS) imposed on the arterial wall, might differ compared to other muscular arteries. The aim was to study the WS of the PA in healthy subjects with the adjacent, muscular, common femoral artery (CFA) as a comparison. Ninety-four healthy subjects were included in this study (45 males, aged 10-78 years and 49 females, aged 10-83 years). The diameter and intima-media thickness (IMT) in the PA and CFA were investigated with ultrasound. Together with blood pressure the WS was defined according to the law of Laplace adjusted for IMT. The diameter increased with age in both PA and CFA (p<0.001), with males having a larger diameter than females (p<0.001). IMT increased with age in both PA and CFA (p<0.001), with higher IMT values in males only in PA (p<0.001). The calculated WS was unchanged with age in both arteries, but lower in PA than in CFA in both sexes (p<0.001). In conclusion, this study shows that the PA and CFA WS is maintained during aging, probably due to a compensatory remodelling response with an increase in arterial wall thickness. However, the stress imposed on the PA wall is quite low, indicating that mechanisms other than WS contribute to the process of pathological arterial dilatation in the PA. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
aneurysm, blood pressure, humans, popliteal artery
in
Vascular Medicine
volume
19
issue
2
pages
131 - 136
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • wos:000340162100008
  • scopus:84904990801
  • pmid:24569643
ISSN
1477-0377
DOI
10.1177/1358863X14524851
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5eb3761a-0916-45d6-adfe-4fe77831e26d (old id 4665548)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:45:25
date last changed
2023-08-31 10:45:48
@article{5eb3761a-0916-45d6-adfe-4fe77831e26d,
  abstract     = {{The popliteal artery (PA) is, after aorta, the most common site for aneurysm formation. Why the PA is more susceptible than other peripheral muscular arteries is unknown. We hypothesized that the wall composition, which in turn affects wall properties, as well as the circumferential wall stress (WS) imposed on the arterial wall, might differ compared to other muscular arteries. The aim was to study the WS of the PA in healthy subjects with the adjacent, muscular, common femoral artery (CFA) as a comparison. Ninety-four healthy subjects were included in this study (45 males, aged 10-78 years and 49 females, aged 10-83 years). The diameter and intima-media thickness (IMT) in the PA and CFA were investigated with ultrasound. Together with blood pressure the WS was defined according to the law of Laplace adjusted for IMT. The diameter increased with age in both PA and CFA (p&lt;0.001), with males having a larger diameter than females (p&lt;0.001). IMT increased with age in both PA and CFA (p&lt;0.001), with higher IMT values in males only in PA (p&lt;0.001). The calculated WS was unchanged with age in both arteries, but lower in PA than in CFA in both sexes (p&lt;0.001). In conclusion, this study shows that the PA and CFA WS is maintained during aging, probably due to a compensatory remodelling response with an increase in arterial wall thickness. However, the stress imposed on the PA wall is quite low, indicating that mechanisms other than WS contribute to the process of pathological arterial dilatation in the PA.}},
  author       = {{De Basso, Rachel and Astrand, Hakan and Rydén Ahlgren, Åsa and Sandgren, Thomas and Lanne, Toste}},
  issn         = {{1477-0377}},
  keywords     = {{aneurysm; blood pressure; humans; popliteal artery}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{131--136}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Vascular Medicine}},
  title        = {{Low wall stress in the popliteal artery: Other mechanisms responsible for the predilection of aneurysmal dilatation?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1358863X14524851}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1358863X14524851}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}