Carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) is the standard method of assessing the central arterial stiffness.

Peripheral arterial stiffness has been studied in healthy subjects with a significant correlation with the central measure. A positive correlation has also been set with coronary disease [1].

The goal of our study is to analyse the stiffness of peripheral diseased networks, compare the data to the central stiffness and propose the more appropriate methodology for its assessment.

In 30 vascular diseased patients, we recorded the carotid-femoral, carotid-radial, carotid-tibial and femoral-tibial PWV with both Complior and Doppler ultrasound techniques. We have distinguished two categories (moderate and severe) of vascular disease depending on the Framingham and brachial-ankle index scores.

The Doppler ultrasound method appeared more appropriate than Complior for peripheral stiffness assessment because the absence of palpable tibial artery pulses in the severely diseased patients couldn’t provide a sufficient signal for Complior analysis . We showed a good correlation between the two methods for data available with the Complior device.

When analysing the Doppler ultrasound measurements, we observed that the femoral-tibial and carotid-tibial PWV were statistically (two-sample T-test) higher for the severely diseased group compared to the moderate one. No difference was noticed for the carotid-femoral and carotid-radial PWV between the two groups.

In conclusion, peripheral arterial stiffness measurement for vascular diseased patients needed an appropriate technique. Severely diseased patients presented no different central PWV but a higher peripheral PWV than moderately diseased patients.