Influence of age and sex on aortic distensibility assessed by MRI in healthy subjects

International audience; Abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is particularly well adapted to the evaluation of aortic distensibility. The calculation of this parameter, based on the change in vessel cross-sectional area per unit change in blood pressure, requires precise delineation of the aortic wall on a series of cine-MR images. Firstly, the study consisted in validating a new automatic method to assess aortic elasticity. Secondly, aortic distensibility was studied for the ascending and descending thoracic aortas in 26 healthy subjects. Two homogeneous groups were available to evaluate the influence of sex and age (with an age limit value of 35 years). The automatic postprocessing …