Abstract
Aortic regurgitation (AR) is a disease characterized by the regurgitation of blood into the left ventricle from the aorta, and it is important to assess the severity of AR because surgery is needed if the condition becomes serious. Ankle brachial pressure index (ABI) is frequently used for the screening of atherosclerosis obliterans, and it is reported to reach a pseudohigh level in patients with AR. The aim of this study was to compare between the ABI test and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in terms of usefulness in the evaluation of the severity of AR. The study population consisted of 85 patients (mean age of 70.2 ± 10.8 years; 60 males and 25 females) who were tested for ABI and whose severity of AR was assessed by TTE at around the same time. Ankle pulse pressure (p < 0.01) and ABI (p < 0.01) showed significant differences in relation to the severity of AR among the items measured using ABI. Ankle pulse pressure (r = 0.43, p < 0.01) and ABI (r = 0.45, p < 0.01) exhibited a positive correlation with %AR. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the cut-off value of ankle pulse pressure in a patient diagnosed with severe AR was 104 mmHg (AUC, 0.707; sensitivity, 73.7%; specificity, 78.8%), and ABI was 1.32 (AUC, 0.806; sensitivity, 68.4%; specificity, 80.3%). In this study, ankle pulse pressure and ABI are suggested to be associated with the severity of AR, and are considered to be useful for the evaluation of the severity of AR.
