Vascular inflammation and aortic stiffness: potential mechanisms of increased vascular risk in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex inflammatory condition in which an important extra-pulmonary manifestation is cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that COPD patients would have increased aortic inflammation and stiffness, as candidate mechanisms mediating increased cardiovascular risk, compared to two negative control groups: healthy never-smokers and smokers without COPD. We also studied patients with COPD due to alpha_- 1 antitrypsin deficiency (α₁ATD) as a comparator lung disease group.

Methods

Participants underwent ¹⁸F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography imaging to quantify aortic inflammation as the tissue-to-blood-ratio (TBR) of FDG uptake. Aortic stiffness was measured by caroti

SUBMITTER: Fisk M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5968523 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature