Elastic properties of ascending aorta in patients with a previous pregnancy complicated by early or late preeclampsia

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the elastic properties of the ascending aorta in women with a previous pregnancy complicated by early-onset (EO) or late-onset (LO) pre-eclampsia (PE) and the correlation with gestational age (GA), systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) and mean uterine artery pulsatility index (UtA-PI) at diagnosis of the disease as well as with birth weight of the neonate. METHODS: Thirty women who had a previous pregnancy complicated by EO-PE, 30 with a previous pregnancy complicated by LO-PE and 30 normal controls were selected retrospectively from our electronic database and then recalled for assessment from 6 months to 4 years after delivery. Data regarding GA, SBP/DBP and mean UtA-PI at the diagnosis of PE were obtained from medical records. At our assessment, aortic M-mode and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) parameters were measured. Aortic diameters were assessed at end-diastole at four levels: Valsalva sinuses, sinotubular junction, tubular tract and aortic arch. Aortic compliance, distensibility, stiffness index (SI), Peterson's elastic modulus (EM), pulse-wave velocity and M-mode strain were calculated using standard formulae. Aortic expansion velocity, early and late diastolic retraction velocities and peak systolic tissue strain (TDI-ϵ) were determined. RESULTS: Aortic diameters at the four levels were significantly greater in both EO-PE and LO-PE groups than in controls. Aortic compliance and distensibility and TDI-ϵ were lower in EO-PE than in LO-PE (P  = 0.001, P  = 0.002 and P  = 0.011, respectively) and controls (P  = 0.037, P  = 0.044 and P  = 0.013, respectively). SI and EM were higher in EO-PE than in LO-PE (P  = 0.001 and P  < 0.001, respectively) and than in controls (P = 0.035 and P  = 0.036, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed GA, DBP and UtA-PI at diagnosis of PE to be independent predictors of aortic elastic properties. CONCLUSIONS: Elastic properties of the ascending aorta were altered in women with a previous pregnancy complicated by EO-PE, but not in those with LO-PE.