Arterioventricular interaction after coarctation repair

Abstract Background Hypertension is common in patients with coarctation of the aorta (CoA), even after successful repair. Increased aortic stiffness has been implicated in the pathology of CoA-associated hypertension. This study aimed to investigate aortic vascular function and its relationship with hypertension in well-repaired CoA-patients at long-term follow-up. Furthermore, we assessed the additive effect of hypertension to adverse arterioventricular coupling associated with increased aortic stiffness. Methods Twenty-two CoA-patients (age 30 ± 10.6 years) with successful surgical repair (n = 12) or balloon angioplasty (BA) (n = 10) between 3 months and 16 years of age with a follow-up of >10 years and 22 healthy controls underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), at mean follow-up of 29.3 years, to study aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), aortic distensibility, global left ventricular (LV) function, LV dimensions, and LV myocardial deformation. Results CoA-patients had significantly increased aortic arch PWV (5.6 ± 1.9 m/s vs. 4.5 ± 1.0 m/s, P  = .02) and decreased distensibility (4.5 ± 1.8 × 10–3 mmHg −1 vs. 5.8 ± 1.8 × 10–3 mmHg −1 , P  = .04) compared to controls. Significant differences in aortic arch PWV were found between hypertensive patients, normotensive patients and controls (6.1 ± 1.8 m/s vs. 4.9 ± 1.9 m/s and 4.5 ± 1.0 m/s, respectively, P  = .03). Aortic arch PWV and distensibility were correlated with systolic blood pressure ( R  = 0.37 and R  = −0.37, respectively, P  = .03 for both). Global LV function, LV mass, LV dimensions and myocardial deformation were similar in CoA-patients when compared to controls. Conclusions Central aortic stiffness is significantly increased in well-repaired CoA-patients long-term after repair, and is associated with hypertension. Global LV function, myocardial deformation indices and LV dimensions are however preserved.