Why the study?
The relationship between turbulent trans-aortic flow identified by blood speckle imaging and aortic valve inflammatory activity measured by 18F-NaF uptake was not established in moderate aortic stenosis.
Does trans-aortic flow turbulence measured by blood speckle imaging correlate with aortic valve inflammation in patients with moderate aortic stenosis?
Does trans-aortic flow turbulence measured by blood speckle imaging correlate with aortic valve inflammation in patients with moderate aortic stenosis?
A high degree of trans-aortic turbulence measured by blood speckle imaging correlates with severe aortic valve inflammation in patients with moderate aortic stenosis.
BSI turbulence may flag AV inflammation for further evaluation; leaves open validation against PET/CT in larger cohorts.
BACKGROUND: 18 F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography/computed tomography ( 18 F-NaF PET/CT) has been proven to be useful in identification of microcalcifications, which are stimulated by inflammation.Blood speckle imaging (BSI) is a new imaging technology used for tracking the flow of blood cells using transesophageal echocardiography (TEE).We evaluated the relationship between turbulent flow identified by BSI and inflammatory activity of the aortic valve (AV) as indicated by the 18 F-NaF uptake index in moderate aortic stenosis (AS) patients.METHODS: This study enrolled 18 moderate AS patients diagnosed within the past 6 months.BSI within the aortic root was acquired using long-axis view TEE.The duration of laminar flow and the turbulent flow area ratio were calculated by BSI to demonstrate the degree of turbulence.The maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax, SUVmean) and the total microcalcification burden (TMB) as measured by 18 F-NaF PET/CT were used to demonstrate the degree of inflammatory activity in the AV region.RESULTS: The mean SUVmean, SUVmax, and TMB were 1.90 0.79, 2.60 0.98, and 4.20 2.18 mL, respectively.The mean laminar flow period and the turbulent area ratio were 116.1 61.5 msec and 0.48 0.32.The correlation between SUVmax and turbulent flow area ratio showed the most positive and statistically significant correlation, with a Pearson's correlation coefficient (R 2 ) of 0.658 and a p-value of 0.014. CONCLUSIONS:The high degree of trans-aortic turbulence measured by BSI was correlated with severe AV inflammation.
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Park et al. (2023) studied this question.
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