Relationship between the aortic valves and an anatomical landmark using chest CT scan

Purpose: In order to determine if the height of a subject could be a reliable surrogate variable to determine the pulse wave travelling distance within the aorta, we investigated the anatomical distance between the aortic valve nidus and the hyoid bone. Methods: Using 28 patient’s chest CT-scans. From Multiplan reconstructed oblique cuts we measured 1) the length of the aortic arch from the aortic valve (AV) to the intercept of a horizontal line passing through the aortic valves and crossing the descending aorta at mark HD (see figure), and 2) the distance between the HD mark to the Hyoid Bone (HB). Results: There was a correlation between the AV-HD distance and the HD-HB distance (non-parametric r = 0.66, p < 0.0001) and the AV-HD distance were positively correlated to the height of the subjects (r = 0.60, p < 0.002). Conclusions: 1- The AV-HD distance projects to a constant anatomical landmark (i.e. the hyoid bone) 2- The size of this arterial segment is significantly correlated to the height of the subjects. These preliminary results could be useful for a more accurate determination of the pulse wave velocity.