Aim of this study was to compare a local carotid pulse wave velocity (C-PWV) measured by high resolution radiofrequency (RF) ultrasound (Q-AS®, Esaote) with carotid-femoral PWV (CF-PWV, Complior), and their relationships with age and BP in normal subjects and in patients (ABN) with risk factors and/or atherosclerotic clinical disease (CVD).

We studied 64 subjects (37 men and 27 women, mean age 49 ±15, BP 124±19/73±9 mmHg), including 33 NL and 31 ABN. Arterial distension curves were obtained by averaging 15 parallel RF-lines obtained with a 10 MHz linear probe through a 1-cm long ROI in CCA. Local carotid stiffness index was calculated after introducing BP values, and C-PWV was obtained by Bramwell-Hill’s equation.

Results: C-PWV in both sides and CF-PWV obtained in the overall population and separately in NL and ABN are shown in Table:

In the whole population, C-PWV and CF-PWV correlated directly (p<0.0001) with age (r=0.82 and r=0.61 respectlvey) and SBP (r=0.72 and r=0.64). In multivariate analysis age was the strongest independent predictor of C-PWV (partial R2 = 0.67), followed by SBP (cumulative R2 = 0.82). By contrast, SBP was the best predictor of CF-PWV (partial R2= 0.41), followed by age (cumulative R2 =0.55). Similar results were obtained after introducing sex, risk factors and CVD as covariates. Conclusions: compared to CF-PWV, local C-PWV shows a stronger association with age and results significantly lower in normal subjects but not in patients with risk factors or CVD.