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Reference values of thoracic aorta and pulmonary artery diameters by age and gender in healthy Chinese adults assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: data from national center for cardiovascular diseases of China

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Abstract

The aim of the study was to define normal ranges for thoracic aorta and pulmonary artery diameters relative to gender, age, body surface area (BSA) and body mass index (BMI) in healthy Chinese adults by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). We studied 200 healthy participants (100 men, 100 women; age range from 20–70) by using a 3.0-T CMR system. The diameters of the ascending aorta (AA), main pulmonary artery (PA), proximal descending aorta (DA) and Valsalva sinus (VAS) were measured manually by two experienced doctors on half-Fourier single-shot spin echo (HASTE) and balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) cine images. The mean value and age specific and gender adjusted normal limits were calculated. The linear regression analysis were performed between diameters and gender, age, BMI and BSA. The mean and 95% confidence interval(CI) of AA, PA, DA and VAS were 28.95 ± 4.61 mm(95% CI 19.92–37.99 mm), 22.41 ± 2.59 mm(95% CI 17.31–27.47 mm), 20.61 ± 2.96 mm(95% CI 14.81–26.42 mm), 31.15 ± 3.65 mm(95% CI 24.00–38.29 mm), respectively. The gender differences of all the parameters above were statistically significant (all p < 0.01). Both thoracic aorta and pulmonary artery dilates with the increase of age, while AA has the highest dilation rate. The mean PA/AA was 0.79 and showed no gender difference, but there was statistical difference among all age groups (p < 0.01). AA and DA had stronger association with age and BSA than BMI. Age- and gender-specific reference diameters of thoracic aorta and pulmonary artery were provided in healthy Chinese adults. Age and BSA have stronger effects on the ranges of diameters than BMI.

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Data availability

The datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Research Grant of Construction Research Project of Key Laboratory (Cultivation) of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2019PT310025), Capital’s Funds for Health Improvement and Research (CFH 2020-2-4034), Capital Clinically Characteristic Applied Research Fund (Z191100006619021), Clinical and Translational Fund of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (2019XK320063), National Natural Science Foundation of China (81771811 and 81971588) and Graduate Innovation Fund of Peking Union Medical College, China (2019-1002-74).

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  1. Shuang Li, Baiyan Zhuang have contributed equally to this manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100037, China

    Shuang Li, Baiyan Zhuang, Gang Yin, Xinling Yang, Shihua Zhao & Minjie Lu

  2. Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Imaging (Cultivation), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100037, China

    Gang Yin, Xinling Yang & Minjie Lu

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  1. Shuang Li
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Contributions

Guarantor of integrity of the entire study: ML study design ML literature research: SL and BZ image and data acquisition, collection and analysis GY, XY, SL and BZ statistical analysis: SL and BZ manuscript preparation: SL and BZ manuscript editing ML and SZ.

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Correspondence to Minjie Lu.

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Li, S., Zhuang, B., Yin, G. et al. Reference values of thoracic aorta and pulmonary artery diameters by age and gender in healthy Chinese adults assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: data from national center for cardiovascular diseases of China. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging 37, 1423–1431 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10554-020-02116-9

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