Myocardial repolarization is affected in patients with ascending aortic aneurysm

Ascending aortic aneurysm (AAA) is one of the major causes of ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Diastolic dysfunction can induce ventricular repolarization dispersion. Nevertheless, myocardial repolarization dispersion is not yet to be fully evaluated in patients with AAA. We aimed to evaluate ventricular repolarization using QT and Tp-Te interval and corrected (c) Tp-Te/QT ratio in patients with AAA. One hundred-four patients with AAA without coronary artery disease (CAD) served as the aneurysm group and 82 patients having a normal aortic diameter as the control group. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for measurements of LV diastolic function and underwent electrocardiography (ECG) to calculate RR, QT, Tp-Te intervals and QT dispersion. Bazett's formula was used to calculate QTc and cTp-Te intervals. cTp-Te/QT ratio was also calculated. The groups were similar according to basal characteristics. We found left ventricular diastolic properties were impaired and QT dispersion, QTc interval, and both of Tp-Te and cTp-Te intervals were significantly prolonged in the aneurysm group than the control group. There were also significant correlations between TTE and ECG parameters. On multivariate linear regression analysis, indexed ascending aortic dimension (AAoD), LA diameter and E/e′ ratio were independent predictors of ventricular repolarization dispersion in AAA patients. Our study results showed that patients with AAA may have an increased risk for ventricular arrhythmogenesis because of deteriorated the left ventricular diastolic function. •We found that left ventricular diastolic properties were impaired in the ascending aortic aneurysm (AAA) group compared to controls.•Multivariate linear regression analysis results demonstrated that indexed AAoD, LA diameter and E/e’ ratio were independent predictors of both a prolonged cQT and cTp-Te interval in the AAA group.•Patients with AAA may have an increased risk for sudden cardiac arrest associated not only aortic complications but also due to VAs because of deteriorated left ventricular diastolic function.