Artery Research

Objective: Our aim was to examine the impact of mismatch patterns reflecting pre- and post-natal growth conditions on markers of arterial stiffness and central hemodynamics in young adults. Methods: In all, 1056 participants from Malmö Offspring Study, 484 men and 572 women (age-range 18–44 years),...

It has been proven that aortic pulse wave velocity (aoPWV) the measure of arterial stiffness is a strong and independent predictor of both cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Beyond the “gold standard” cfPWV brachial-ankle PWV (baPVW) measurement has been accepted for assessing arterial stiffness...

Objectives: up to date the assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk is based mainly on the presence of CV risk factors. However, many markers of subclinical atherosclerosis has been demonstrated as powerful predictors of CV events. Aim of our study was to evaluate if non invasive US parameters,...

Background: The relationship between arterial stiffness, blood pressure (BP) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been studied in healthy populations and cardiovascular patients, since all of which proved to be independent predictors of all-cause mortality. We aimed to investigate the association...

Background: Vascular age may be a more reasonable conception to the patient than the information about the percentage of risk. Objective: To compare degrees of correlation between biological and vascular age with subclinical evidence of arterial disease in treated hypertensive patients. Methods: Subjects...

We studied the influence of rosuvastatin adding to lisinopril/amlodipine or lisinopril/ hydrochlorothiazide fixed combinations on blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness dynamics in hypertensive patients of high or very high cardiovascular risk. Methods: 60 patients (36 men and 24 women aged 52.1...

Increased arterial stiffness is one of the major alterations in arterial wall. It can be evaluated in non-invasively way by measuring the pulse wave velocity PWV in large arteries. Increased PWV is an independent predictor factor of cardiovascular complications in patients with hypertension and chronic...

Background: Although Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is associated with retinal vascular disease, the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are unclear. Reduced retinal arteriolar diameter has been linked to high clinic blood pressure (BP) but the role of more sensitive measures of BP control have never been...

Vitamin D deficiency may increase arterial stiffness, a sub-clinical symptom of Target Organ Damage (TOD). This study aimed to investigate the associations between total serum vitamin D level and arterial stiffness assessed by brachial-ankle Pulse Wave Velocity (baPWV) and atherosclerosis assessed by...

It has been suggested that measurement of “unattended” blood pressure values may provide advantages over conventional BP measurement; some hypertension guidelines now suggest this approach as the preferred one for measuring office BP. Data on the relationship between unattended BP and cardiovascular...

Objective: Wall-to-lumen ratio of retinal arterioles might serve as an in-vivo parameter of vascular damage. Previous studies have shown a correlation between retinal arteriolar structure and blood pressure values, measured both in the clinic and during 24 hours ambulatory monitoring. We analyzed the...

Introduction: It is estimated that currently 17 million deaths annually in the world occur due to cardiovascular disease (CV), about one third of all deaths. 9.4 million are related to arterial hypertension (HA). The use of methods that allow the early identification of structural and functional cardiovascular...

Aims: Flow-mediated vasodilatation of the brachial artery (FMD), a marker of conduit arterial endothelial function, and reactive hyperemia index (RHI), a marker of resistance arterial endothelial function, measured by peripheral arterial tonometry, are known to be weakly associated with each other, however,...

Background: Mean arterial pressure (MAP) is required for many hemodynamic calculations. Most automated devices do not report MAP and a form factor (FF) is used to estimate it from systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP). The appropriate choice of FF in the brachial artery is controversial: 0.33 is...

The aim of study was to assess the feasibility of 24-hour PWV analysis in management of patients with renal transplantation (RT). Overall, 41 patients were recruited from the transplant waiting list. All the measurements were performed before and at 1 and 20 weeks after RT. The Pulse Time Index of Norm...

Background: We investigate whether peripheral arterial disease (PAD) detected by ankle brachial index (ABI) <0.9 is independently associated with aortic stiffness and lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] in elderly subjects free from PAD at baseline. Methods: The present study included 96 lecture attendees (“Continuing...

Macrovasculature and microvasculature are interrelated, and may influence each other. Microvascular structure is not only the site of vascular resistance but probably also the origin of most of the wave reflections generating increased central systolic blood pressure. Some index of large artery stiffness...

Monitoring of the regional stiffening of the arterial wall may prove important in the diagnosis of various vascular pathologies. The pulse wave velocity (PWV) along the aortic wall has been shown to be dependent on the wall stiffness and has played a fundamental role in a range of diagnostic methods....

Background: Our aim was to study the predictive power of ICPS risk categories on CV mortality in hemodialysis patients. Methods: In our retrospective cohort study 91 patients were involved from two dialysis centers. Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) and and central pulse...

Objectives: The objectives of this cross-sectional study was to determine the prevalence of extra/-intracranial stenosis in patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) and to analyze how endothelial function and arterial stiffness are related to the presence of intracranial stenosis. Methods:...

Objective: To assess whether reservoir pressure (Pres) in young individuals with a compliant aorta is uniform throughout the aorta, as has recently been reported in older adults with cardiovascular disease (1). Methods: High fidelity pressure was measured with a Verrata wire (Philips Volcano) in 5 aortic...

Objective: The Mediterranean diet, rich in fruits, legumes and vegetables is a healthy dietary pattern, gaining widely recognition as a non-pharmaceutical mean of cardiovascular disease prevention, due to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Erectile dysfunction (ED), represents an early marker...

Background: Ultrahigh-frequency ultrasound may represent a powerful tool for investigating the arterial properties of medium and small-size arteries. Aim of this study was: 1) to evaluate intra- and inter-operator reproducibility of radial artery vascular parameters (intima-media thickness –IMT- and...

Objectives: Baroreflex function was found to be impaired in schizophrenia and reduced baroreflex-sensitivity (BRS) was associated with increased mortality. Stiffening of the baroreceptor vessel wall, such as the carotid artery, may lead to reduced activation of the baroreceptors and blunt the baroreflex....

Background: Whether angiotensin receptor blockers can dose-dependently remodel the arterial wall during long-term treatment has only been rarely studied. Olmesartan (OM) has previously shown a favourable pharmacodynamic profile for such an action. Methods: In this phase 3, multi-centre, double-blind,...

Background: Modest elevations in plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol have been shown to confer a significant increase in cardiovascular risk. Endothelin (ET)-1 is a vasoconstrictor peptide with proatherogenic properties. The experimental aim of this study was to determine whether ET-1 system...

Introduction: Inflammatory state is activated in metabolic syndrome and may explain part of the adverse prognosis of this entity. Arterial stiffness, central blood pressures and wave reflections are independent predictors of cardiovascular risk. This study investigates the relation between low-grade...

Introduction: The feasibility of measuring the diastolic pressure-decay constant (tau) in normal and hypertensive humans is not established and the clinical and physiological relevance of tau is not known. Methods: Studies were performed in the non-invasive cardiac laboratory in subjects who had been...

Objectives: Evidence points towards a grading effect of the severity of ED in the predictive ability of this condition for CV events and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of all longitudinal studies for investigating the role of severity of ED in predicting risk of clinical events. Methods:...

Background: Accuracy of non-invasive PWV as m/sec is impeded by crude surface estimates of aortic length. We compared PWV measured using the Sphygmocor via surface length measurements with PWV measured using MRI with distance traced more precisely along the whole imaged aortic length. Methods: Magnetic...

Endothelial dysfunction, as assessed by laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) is an accepted method to measure microvascular reactivity, which correlates with cardiovascular risk factors in several patient populations. The aim of our prospective cohort study was to assess determinants of LDF parameters and to...

Preeclampsia (PE) affects pregnancy, being one of the main causes of prenatal maternal mortality and morbidity (1). Recent studies show that PE is characterized by a significant reduction on maternal cardiac output and increased peripheral resistance. However, studies on the maternal hemodynamic adaptation...

Objectives: To examine vascular characteristics in patients with type-2-diabetes (T2D) and resistant hypertension (RH) after a median period of 6 months intensified antihypertensive treatment. Methods: Patients were characterized as having RH based on ambulatory blood pressure measurements (ABPMs, Kivex®...

Nowadays employment world is increasingly shifting towards service-related labour, changing focus from physiological to psychological loads for workers. Thus, a deeper psychological stress understanding arises, not only for jobs within extreme conditions (as astronauts or pilots) but also for regular...

Objective and motivation: Endothelial dysfunction is associated with cardiovascular diseases. Flow mediated dilation (FMD), assesses the endothelial function by measuring the brachial artery vasodilation following deflation of a sphygmomanometer cuff around the forearm. Vasodilation is assumed to be...

The relation between carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and LV remodeling/dysfunction is confounded by the effect of blood pressure (BP). We evaluated the relationship between cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), a less BP-dependent measure of the stiffness constant (β) of the aorta, iliac, femoral...

Background: Monitoring Intracranial Pressure (ICP) is key for appropriate clinical treatment of patients with conditions potentially causing raised ICP. The adequacy of using Heart Rate (HR), aortic Blood Pressure (aBP) and carotid Blood Flow (cBF) to estimate ICP magnitude (pulse and mean) and waveform...

Objectives: Microvascular arterial remodelling has been linked with target organ damage and cardiovascular events. Our objective was to link retinal arterial remodelling assessed using a new interferometry technique (adaptative optics, AO) and ascending aortic function and geometry. Methods: 9 patients...

Background: Hypertension clinical treatment largely relies on different drugs. Some of these drugs are thought to exhibit specific protective functions in addition to those resulting from blood pressure reduction per se. Through a validated multiscale mathematical model of the cardiovascular system,...

Objectives: The popliteal artery resemble the carotid artery in structure and function1. The aim of this study was to determine whether the popliteal artery resemble the carotid artery in structure and function in young and older Caucasian men and women. Methods: Hundred and twenty Caucasian men and...

Background and Aim: Left Ventricular (LV) End-systolic elastance (Ees) serves as a major determinant of cardiac systolic contractility. Traditional Methods: to evaluate the ventricular mechanics directly from measurements require intraventricular pressure and volume recordings during an acute preload...

Background: Statins are widely used for atherosclerotic plaques stabilization due to their cholesterol-lowering properties and pleotropic effects. However, the optimal drug regimens including dosage and length of treatment necessary to achieve significant improvement of ultrasound plaque morphology are...

Objectives: estimate determinants of thoracic aorta remodelling in healthy subjects. Methods: 139 subjects (63 women, mean age 39.9) were included. Aortic diameters were calculated at the level sinuses of Vasalva, junction, ascending, arch and descending aorta. AIx, Pi, central blood pressure (CBP)...

Purpose/Background/Objectives: This study aims to investigate how image settings affect carotid Intima-Media-Thickness (IMT) and diameter estimation performed with CarotidStudio (Quipu Srl). Methods: 14 healthy volunteers (24.4 ± 4.4 years; 8 men) were recruited. Longitudinal scans 3cm deep of common-carotid-arteries...

Objective: Morphological changes affecting small arteries are recognized surrogates of end-organ damage due to aging and/or hypertension. However, the corresponding structural modifications of the wall of microvessels are poorly known. Here, using adaptive optics (AO) infrared imaging, we analyzed the...

Background: Quantitative imaging of retinal arterioles and venules offers unique insights into cardiovascular and microvascular diseases but is laborious. We developed and tested a method to automatically identify Arterial/Venular (A/V) vessels in digital retinal images in conjunction with a semi-automatic...

Introduction: Recently, a mouse model was developed showing spontaneous plaque rupture leading to stroke (ApoE−/−Fbn1C1039G+/− mouse). However, a longitudinal follow-up of these mice was hampered by the lack of an accurate in vivo method to visualize the cerebral vasculature. Methods: In this feasibility...

Objectives: Cerebral artery critical closing pressure (CCP) is an estimated parameter with no single accepted method of calculation. Variation between methods could be significant. This study investigates two models to estimate CCP using arterial blood pressure (BP) and middle cerebral artery flow velocity...

Objective: The Endocheck, embedded within the Vicorder device, uses cuff-based, pulse volume (PV) displacement to record brachial PV waveforms at baseline, and during reactive hyperaemia. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of the Endocheck method. Methods: The study consisted of two parts....

Arterial wave reflections (AWR) are determined by arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV), the distribution and distance of the reflection points (RP) from the heart and the magnitude of these reflections. Pulse waves are reflected at sites of changing impedance. Substantial changes in impedance occur at...

Background: Relatively little is known about equine arterial hemodynamics because it is technically and ethically challenging to investigate a large number of arteries. Pulsed-wave Doppler images of arterial flow velocities typically display patterns of a higher oscillatory nature than in humans, but...

Objectives: Carotid artery stiffness has been suggested to alter local haemodynamic and arterial remodelling. It has also been shown to be associated with ischaemic stroke. The aim of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility of measuring carotid pulse wave velocity (cPWV) using magnetic resonance...

Background: The relation between telomere dynamics and obesity remains unclear. Cross-sectional studies found associations between short leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and high body mass index (BMI) but longitudinal studies did not find any association between LTL attrition and BMI. In two parallel...

Objectives: Determination of the cross-sectional mechanical properties of artery is crucial for correlating regional arterial stiffness with the biological components such as collagen, elastin, and deposited calcium. While ultrasound imaging has been used to determine these properties from the arterial...

Background: Diabetes converts from a metabolic disorder into a predominantly vascular disease, once its duration extends over several years or/and when additional cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension coexist. We analyzed various vascular parameters in the renal, retinal and systemic circulation,...

Objectives: Assessment of pulse wave velocity (PWV) is normally used as a measure of arterial stiffness. However, measurement of change in PWV before and after a period of reactive hyperaemia may enable the technique to be harnessed as a measure of endothelial function as flow-mediated slowing (FMS)....

Blood pressure variability (BPV) is defined by the standard deviation of a given sample of population of normotensive or hypertensive subjects. Recent studies have suggested that this parameter might constitute a cardiovascular risk factor. Reduction of blood pressure variability could be an important...

Background: Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity (Ao-PWV) predicts cardiovascular disease and renal dysfunction in Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM). Klotho is a circulating anti-ageing hormone that has direct cardio-renal protective effects in animal studies. We have previously demonstrated that circulating levels of Klotho...

Technological developments made it possible to detect a longitudinal motion of the arterial wall. Our previously presented method can estimate this motion with high accuracy, but the method requires ultrasound images of very high quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate a novel method for estimating...

Background: In chronic kidney disease (CKD), anomalies of mineral bone disorder (MBD) play a central role in vascular calcification and increased aortic stiffness. The impact of antihypertensive drugs on MBD-induced vascular calcification remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to examine whether...

Background: Arterial stiffening is an important predictor of cardiovascular risk. In order to identify the pathogenic mechanisms it is necessary to characterise arterial micro-structure and –mechanical properties. Here, we test the hypothesis that chemical fixation (employed in microscopical preparation...

Aim: To evaluate the relation between arterial stiffness and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in metabolic syndrome (MetS) patients during more than 3 years observation period (average was 3,8 years). Methods: This longitudinal study enrolled 573 subjects (aged 53,4 ± 6 years, 63% female,...