Ascending aorta

The ascending aorta is the upward-running proximal part of the aorta between its origin at the left ventricle and the aortic arch. The coronary arteries arise near its base in the aortic sinuses.^[ref] When describing measurements, the tubular ascending aorta is distinguished from the aortic root at the sinotubular junction.^[ref]

This anatomical route and the propagation of a pulse answer different questions. In an original example, a pressure disturbance travels through a stipulated 6 cm segment with pulse wave velocity 6 m/s. Its propagation time isA represented parcel moving through the same segment at mean blood flow speed 0.6 m/s instead takes $\Delta t_{\mathrm{parcel}}=0.06/0.6=0.10$ s. The pressure signal can therefore arrive before that parcel. These are constructed speeds, not measurements or normal limits.

The wall can also store volume as it distends. In a local linear approximation with vascular compliance $C$, a pressure change $\Delta p$ gives $\Delta V\simeq C\Delta p$. Stipulated $C=0.05$ mL/mmHg and $\Delta p=20$ mmHg give 1 mL. This is a small-change model for a selected segment; it does not assign the compliance of the entire circulation to the ascending aorta.

An imaging measurement should consequently identify the sampled segment and phase of the cardiac cycle. A diameter in the aortic root, a diameter beyond the sinotubular junction, a local blood flow speed and a pulse wave velocity describe related but different observations.