Defining Normal Abdominal Aorta, Common Iliac And Common Femoral Artery Dimensions In Indian Population

Abstract

Background : It is important to define the normal diameter of Aorta so that clinicians are able to decide when the aorta becomes aneurysmal. However, there is a paucity of literature on the normal diameter of Aorta in the general Indian population and most of the available data are from the West and Anatomic studies. The purpose of this study is to determine the normal reference diameters of the abdominal aorta, Iliac arteries and common femoral arteries in the Indian population. The diameter of the Iliac arteries and common Femoral arteries are important as they form a critical conduit for taking Aortic endoprosthesis in Endovascular Aneurysm repair

Purpose: To establish normal diameters for suprarenal and infrarenal segments of abdominal aorta, common Iliac, external Iliac and common femoral arteries and to study the correlation of arterial diameters with age, sex, height, weight, Body mass index (BMI) and Body surface area (BSA)

Materials and methods :Six hundred and six patients who underwent multidetector computed tomography (CT) scans of the abdomen for non-cardiovascular reasons were recruited.The mean internal diameters of the suprarenal and infrarenal abdominal aorta (maximum anteroposterior and transverse diameter) were measured at T12 and L3 vertebral levels, mid segments of common iliac artery, external iliac and common femoral artery at the level of the femoral head were tabulated according to various age groups for both men and women. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation between arterial diameters, gender, height, weight, BSA, and BMI.

Results : The mean diameters of the suprarenal and infrarenal abdominal aorta measured at T12 and L3 vertebral levels in males were 17.9 ± 2.29mm and 14.67 ± 1.93 mm and in females 17.5 ± 1.96mm and 14 ± 1.69mm, Common iliac artery in males were 10.33 ± 1.31mm and 10.02 external iliac artery in males were 9.27± 1.02mm and 8.99 ±0.81mm ,Common femoral artery in males were 8.44±0.89mm and 8.23 ± 0.77mm in females respectively. The aortic diameter progressively increased in caliber with increasing age of the patients and was smaller in women than men.

Conclusion : We obtained a set of normal values for the arterial diameters at different anatomical level in the Indian population. The aortic diameters at suprarenal and infrarenal segments,common iliac, external iliac and common femoral artery were  correlated with age, gender, and body size of the patients as seen with previously published data in the Western population. A brief comparison of data between Indian and Western population showed that the values obtained were less than published elsewhere and hence, this should be considered while formulating intervention protocols.