Preliminary study on ventricular-arterial coupling of patients with hypertension by ultrasonography

Objective To evaluate the cardiovascular stiffness and its coupling of patients with hypertension by ultrasound.Methods Fifty patients with essential hypertension and 30 age- and gendermatched subjects without hypertension,diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases as control group were enrolled in this study.The parameters of structure and function of left ventricle,blood flow were measured by echocardiography.The blood pressure and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CFPWV) were also measured.The derived corresponding parameter:end-systolic pressure(ESP),effective arterial elastance (Ea),end-diastolic (Ed),end-systolic ventricular elastance (Ees) and Ea/ Ees were calculated respectively.Results Ees was correlated positively with ejection fraction (r =0.378,P =0.005),while Ea was correlated positively with CFPWV( r =0.289,P ＜0.001).Ed was correlated negatively with e/a ( r =- 0.333,P =0.027).Posterior wall of left ventricle was correlated positively with Ed and Ea( r =0.388,P =0.016; r =0.336,P =0.026).Ea and Ed in patients with hypertension were significantly higher than those in control group( P ＜0.05),but there was no significant difference of Ees and Ea/ Ees between two groups( P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Arterial stiffness is associated with ventricular stiffness,and their matching relation can be applied to evaluate ventricular-arterial coupling. Key words: Echocardiography;  Hypertension;  Ventricular function;  Elasticity;  Ventricular-arterial coupling