Artery Research

Exercise-induced endothelial shear stress (ESS) has been proposed as a molecular mechanism that regulates the expression of genes involved in the protection against atherosclerosis. However, research on this topic has not considered the pulsatile nature of blood flow for in vivo ESS estimations. Purpose:...

Background and Objectives: The cushioning effect of large, healthy arteries reduces pulsatile afterload to the heart, reduces pulsatility in the microvasculature of target organs, and promotes coronary/cerebral perfusion [1]. With age, large arteries become stiffer, which increases both pulse wave velocity...

Purpose/Background/Objectives: Aortic stiffness and hemodynamics are independent predictors of adverse cardiovascular events. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is growingly used in high surgical risk patients with aortic valve stenosis. We sought to investigate the effect of TAVI on aortic...

In the background of resistant hypertension (RHT) the neurovascular pulsatile compression (NVPC) of the left rostral ventrolateral medulla may play a role. In these cases, a neurosurgical decompression (NVD) decreased the blood pressure (BP) and the antihypertensive medication became more effective....

Introduction: Acute, gravity-induced blood pressure (BP) changes during head-up tilt may generate concomitant variations in carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV). We aimed to separate the pressure-dependent and -independent components of cf-PWV changes observed during head-up tilt. Methods: 30...

Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) on preventing the leakage of cardiac damage biomarkers in patients undergoing vascular surgery. Methods: Randomised, sham-controlled, double-blinded, single-centre study has been carried...

There is no consensus on the antihypertensive effect and on the ability to preserve kidney function of ballon dilatations and/or stent implantation these in renal artery stenosis. From 2007 to 2016 at the 1st Department of Medicine, Nephrology-Hypertension Center, University of Szeged, total of 80 patients...

Background: Aortic type B dissection is a life-threating condition in which blood flows between aortic wall layers. Despite a role for morphological variables, such as entry tear location and dimension, in the prediction of progressive false lumen (FL) dilation has been suggested, the role of flow characteristics...

Background: Participation in structured exercise training may improve microvascular function. Post occlusive reactive hyperaemia (PORH) is a measure of microvascular function in skeletal muscle and can be assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). We examined PORH following a short and a long...

Introduction: The assessment of middle cerebral artery (MCA) haemodynamics is essential for the diagnosis and monitoring of cerebrovascular disease. However, conventional transcranial Doppler (TCD) may not capture the correct flow velocities because of sub-optimal angles of insonation. Conversely, 2-D...

Background: Antares is an algorithm for pulse wave analysis (PWA) by oscillometric blood pressure monitors in order to estimate central (aortic) blood pressure (cBP). Antares aims to enable brachial cuff-based blood pressure (BP) monitors to be type II-devices, determining absolute cBP values independently...

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 (carotid-femoral) a plenty of methods are available for measuring PWV but the interpretation...

Background: Measurement of wave intensity (WI) requires simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous measurement of pressure and flow limiting its use. Previous work in dogs [1] and humans [2] has shown that the excess pressure waveforms calculated using reservoir analysis correspond closely with aortic flow waveforms....

Background: Numerous devices purport to measure central aortic BP as distinct from conventional brachial BP. This study aimed to determine the accuracy (validation) of the Sphygmocor Xcel-cuff device (AtCor Medical, Sydney, Australia) for measuring central BP. Methods: 330 patients (mean age 61.3 ±...

Background: Carotid artery tracking has high clinical relevance for the investigation of arterial stiffness indicators like Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV). However, current tracking systems are unreliable and/or not fully automated [1,2]. In this work we propose a novel wall tracking algorithm for long-term...

Background: Local carotid pulse wave velocity (PWV) estimation is challenging due to a complex anatomy and associated wave reflections [1]. Wave interference is both blood pressure (BP) and position dependent, hence causing nonlinearity in the spatiotemporal PWV estimation [2]. In lack of beat-to-beat...

Background: Diabetes is one of the leading causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) worldwide. CKD is directly linked to increased morbidity and mortality. The role of vascular changes in diabetes and underlying mechanism of kidney disease is not well understood. Methods: We present a mathematical model...

Background: Hemodynamic optimization of unstable patients by means of fluid resuscitation improves patient outcome, but choosing the correct amount of fluid can be difficult. Too little fluid may not ensure adequate perfusion whereas too much fluid is associated with increased mortality. Static parameters...

Background: Recently, we showed an age-related increase in augmentation pressure (AP) measured using Mobil-O-Graph (MOG) in normotensive Japanese individuals. However, AP might be a poor index of wave reflection due to the overlap between the forward wave and reflected wave. Methods: We enrolled untreated...

Background: Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the most common valve disease in an elderly population, therefore, simple screening examination for AS is needed. Although a prolonged carotid upstroke time (UT), and prolonged ejection time (ET) of a brachial pulse wave (BPW) have been observed in severe AS...

Objectives: The cardiovascular/CV risk is higher in males. To know better these increased risks, our aim was to investigate the effects of different vitamin D/VD status on mechanical, pharmacological and histological characteristics of coronary arterioles in male rat model. Methods: In male Wistar-rats...

We aimed to determine how the alteration of arterial stiffness (AS) affects the dynamics of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction (DD) in metabolic syndrome (MetS) subjects during longitudinal observation (3.8 ± 0.6 years). Methods: A follow-up study was carried out in 573 (53.4 ± 5.8 years, 211...

Aim: To assess a time-dependent change of arterial stiffness gradient (PWVratio calculated by dividing carotid-femoral to carotid-radialPWV), a marker of vascular aging, in high cardiovascular risk cohort. Methods: This cohort study (n = 689) was conducted during the period 2010–2019 at Vilnius University...

Background: Arterial stiffness is the characteristic of early vascular damage that can be measured by several methods. Sphygmocor determines the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) also measures PWV between heart and ankle, independently of blood pressure. According...

Background: Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) is the gold standard measurement for arterial stiffness. Normative values exist for PWV in children using the subtracted method (LSM) for the estimation of the distance, however no imaging validation studies in the growing pediatric population. The formula...

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) patients are characterized by markedly elevated LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration, positive family history of hypercholesterolemia and premature vascular complications including carotid artery disease (CAAD). Carotid plaques are associated with atherosclerosis of...

The long-term effects of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis (LA) on the progression and regression of atherosclerosis were evaluated by carotid ultrasonography in two severe heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemic patients with carotid artery stenosis. Furthermore, the lipid-lowering efficacy...

Objective: We aimed to study Endothelial dysfunction and Arterial Stiffness in Diabetes mellitus. Methods: 29 women with type 2 diabetes and 8 non-diabetic controls were included. Vascular function was studied with pOpmetre® (Axelife SAS-France) to assess the foot to toe Pulse Wave Velocity; and EndoPAT2000®...

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease is mainly treated by endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) and PWV has been shown to increase after EVAR. Arterial stiffness is predictive of cardiovascular disease, but has not been investigated in AAA-patients. We investigated if central pressures (CP)...

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by airway limitation which is an independent predictor of increased cardiovascular (CV) risk and mortality [1]. COPD is associated with increased arterial stiffness [2] and increased incidence of all stroke subtypes [3]. However,...

Background: Previous studies implicated cardiotonic steroids, including Na/K-ATPase inhibitor marinobufagenin (MBG), in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia (PE). We demonstrated that MBG induces fibrosis via mechanism involving inhibition of Fli1, a nuclear transcription factor and a negative regulator...

Objectives: Alterations in skin microcirculation have been associated with damage in various microvascular beds [1]. Endothelial dysfunction in microcirculation plays a central role in the pathophysiology of rheumatic diseases, contributing substantially to the increased cardiovascular risk of these...

Background: Reservoir pressure analysis has been newly introduced to analyze arterial waveform and function. There are few data regarding the effect of aging on the aortic reservoir and excess pressures in normal humans. Objectives and Methods: To investigate this issue, we analyzed high-fidelity aortic...

Introduction: Arterial properties are linked to the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). Coronary blood flow is strongly and inversely related to arterial stiffness. Thus, the aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the prognostic value of PWV in high-risk patients with suspected...

Acute inflammation increases the risk of cardiac and cerebrovascular events, potentially associated with altered hemodynamic load. Wave reflection at the aorta and carotid artery can contribute to central hemodynamic load and provide insight into downstream changes in vascular tone. Acute inflammation...

Introduction: Systolic blood pressure (SBP) does not always amplify from central to peripheral arteries. Individuals without SBP amplification (SBPamp) have higher aortic blood pressure (BP) despite similar brachial cuff SBP. To circumvent this discrepancy, the aim of this study was to determine if aortic...

Background: In patients with Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS), an abnormally low carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) may increase the risk of arterial dissection and rupture. Thus its accurate assessment by ultra–high frequency ultrasound (UHFUS), thanks to its higher spatial resolution, may...

Background: A hypertensive response to submaximal exercise is associated with cardiovascular disease but may be influenced by functional capacity. Spironolactone may improve functional capacity, which could mask treatment effects on exercise blood pressure (BP). This study sought to examine this hypothesis. Methods:...

Blood pressure is most important parameter reflecting hemodynamic factors, however it is continuously variable in 24 hours. Here, we made a non-invasive and continuous BP measurement device using a three-axis tactile force sensor. All the data was collected every 2 min for the short-term experiment,...

Introduction: Left ventricular mass (LVM) predicts cardiovascular risk. In early life, LVM is conventionally indexed to height 2.7 [1], although this may not account for sex differences in growth. We investigated allometric scaling of LVM to height, lean mass (LM) and body surface area (BSA) in a UK...

Background: There is growing evidence that Five Factor Model personality traits (extraversion agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness) have an impact on cardiovascular (CV) risk. The aim of our study was to evaluate their associations with 24-hour brachial and central hemodynamic...

Introduction: Central pressure (CP) has shown to be more reliable than cardiovascular mortality; salt intake in the diet is directly related to the increase in CP. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study representative of a neighborhood of Salvador-BA, Brazil, distributed in 12 census tracts...

Introduction: Central pressure (CP) has been shown to be more reliable in cardiovascular mortality than peripheral. Previous studies correlate the relationship between CP increase and urinary potassium excretion. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study representative of a neighborhood of Salvador-Ba,...

Background: Soluble receptors for advanced glycation end-products (sRAGEs) have been suggested to have a protective role neutralizing the advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and their pathological effect on vessel walls. We aimed to investigate the association between circulating concentrations of...

Introduction: Adult obesity is associated with greater arterial stiffness however in youth the relationship is unclear. We investigated associations between arterial stiffness and adiposity and explored the contribution of blood pressure from adolescence to emerging adulthood (17–24 yrs). Methods: 3885...

Aim: Patients with HIV have increased cardiovascular risk and pulmonary defects. We investigated the association between impaired pulmonary function (IPF) and arterial stiffening measured by the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) in Ghanaian HIV patients. Method: Spirometry was used to measure pulmonary...

Aging often results in the appearance of sarcopenia, which is characterized by loss of muscle mass and strength. The incidence of sarcopenia in the elderly is a quite common and leads to weakness and disability, as well as a lower quality of life, also assuming a high social and economic impact. One...

Background/Objectives: Large artery stiffening is a novel risk factor for cognitive impairment including Alzheimer’s disease. Loss of impedance mismatch between central and cerebral arteries promotes cerebrovascular dysfunction via chronic transmission of excessive pulsatile pressure and flow to the...

Background: The MOMENTUM3 trial1 has revealed superiority of the novel HeartMate3 (HM3) left ventricular assist device (LVAD) compared with the HM2, with a significantly reduced occurrence of cerebrovascular accidents. Thus, cerebral autoregulation may be improved in HM3 compared with HM II patients,...

Objective: Small vessel disease, measured by brain white matter hyperintensity (WMH), is associated with increased stroke risk and cognitive impairment. This study aimed to explore the relationship between WMH on computerised tomography (CT) and white coat hypertension (WCH) in patients with recent transient...

Wellness and healthiness depend on physiology if no illness exists in the body. As a treatment either in healthy or sick state, we suggest that sauna exposure could be good for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, especially heart and brains arteries. We measured by our photoplethysmographic (PPG)...

Introduction: Açaí-juçara is a fruit with a antioxidant content that can modify the vascular environment and attenuate the effects of obesity. Objective: To evaluate the effect of açaí-juçara on pulse pressure parameters in overweight or obese individuals. Methods: Randomized clinical trial with 23...

Background: Endothelial dysfunction (ED) represents an initial step of “vascular failure” [1]; several factors affect the functionality of the endothelium. Obesity [2] and estrogen deficiency [3] are independently associated with this. The early detection of ED is essential to intervene and prevent its...

Background: Sympathetic stimulation in central arteries, such as the carotid artery, lead to vasodilation in healthy subjects and vasoconstriction in those with cardiovascular disease. Moreover, this response has independent prognostic value for future events. Whether the aorta demonstrates similar responsiveness...

Background: Cuff blood pressure (BP) is intended to approximate central aortic BP and accuracy is paramount. Sex differences in BP physiology could influence the accuracy of cuff BP as an estimate of invasive aortic BP, but this has not been explored in-depth and was the aim of this study. Methods:...

Background: Effects of afterload and blood pressure (BP) on pulse wave velocity (PWV) have been investigated using vasoactive drugs but effects of cardiac pre-load have not previously been studied. Methods: Transient mechanical reduction of cardiac pre-load (lower limb venous occlusion, LVO) and expansion...

Measurement of “unattended” blood pressure (BP) may reduce or eliminate the “white coat effect”. Despite the possible advantages of this approach for BP measurement, only few studies analysed the relationship between unattended BP and cardiovascular events or with hypertension mediated organ damage (HMOD)....

Introduction: Isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) is the most common form of hypertension in older people. However, accurate identification of ISH may be hindered because cuff blood pressure (BP) underestimates systolic BP (SBP) and overestimates diastolic BP (DBP). This study aimed to determine the...

Background: Accurate measurement of cuff systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) is contingent on the assumption of oscillometric MAP being accurate. If MAP is inaccurate this is likely to impact the accuracy of cuff SBP and DBP, but this has never been determined and was the aim of the study. Methods:...

Purpose/Background/Objectives: Hypertension is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, inflammation and arterial stiffness. We sought to investigate the role of inflammation and arterial stiffness in the prognosis of cardiovascular hospitalization in hypertensives patients over an extensive follow-up. Methods:...

Objective: International guidelines advocate conservative management of post-stroke white coat hypertension. The aims of this study were to investigate; i) does WCH/E result in increased stroke risk? and ii) is WCH/E associated with surrogate markers of cardiovascular risk? Methods: The Arterial Stiffness...

Objective: White coat hypertension/effect (WCH/E) describes an elevated clinic blood pressure (BP) with normal daytime ambulatory BP (ABPM) values. It is not clear whether WCH/E is associated with adverse vascular risk. This study aimed to determine the relationship between WCH/E and arterial stiffness...

A patient with the complaint of moderately elevated blood pressure came to our office. Important data in his history was kidney transplantation in 1985, due to glomerulonephritis and since that time he was in regular nephrology care. He also had chronic lumboischialgia, chronic hypertension and stage...

Background: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) reflects arterial stiffness and is an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. It is important to determine the effect dual therapy has on both BP and PWV. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was performed in patients with grade 1 and 2 primary...

Background/Objectives: Skin microcirculation represents an easily accessible window reflecting generalized microvascular dysfunction. It has been correlated with alterations in several microvascular beds, though evidence regarding its association with macrovascular damage is scarce. Carotid artery stiffening...

Purpose/Background/Objectives: Cardiac autonomic dysfunction is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and arrhythmias. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of heart rate variability (HRV) in the prognosis of future arrhythmic events. Methods: We studied 292 untreated at baseline...

Introduction: Development of carotid and femoral atherosclerotic plaques proved to be heritable in previous studies. However, no comprehensive ultrasonographic evaluation of the volume and types of plaque has been performed. Methods: Comprehensive carotid and femoral arterial ultrasound examination...

Background: Calibration of carotid artery tonometry waveforms needs to account for pulse pressure augmentation [1]. Due to its location nearer to the heart, carotid pulse pressure (carPP) is about 10 mmHg lower than brachial (brachPP) [1]. In practice, perfect applanation is hard to achieve with tonometry...

Purpose: Referral to surgery in thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) is based on maximal diameter (Dmax) measured from imaging, which is known to have a high diagnosis failure rate. In addition to geometry, 4D flow MRI provides a comprehensive time-resolved flow imaging. Thus, our aim was to evaluate the...

Aortic tapering is a known characteristic of the arterial tree affecting the development of pressure in the aorta. With tapering, the cross-sectional area of vessels decreases moving towards the periphery causing reflections to travel back to the heart. The reflection waves present in the aorta are an...

Background: Several so-called loop-based methods, have been proposed to estimate local pulse wave velocity (PWV). However, previous studies have demonstrated inaccuracies in local PWV-estimates due to presence of reflections, which led to the proposition of a frequency-domain correction method [1]. The...

Background and Objective: Infrared Thermal Imaging (ITI) is a noninvasive method to measure skin temperature (ST). The latter is determined by the microcirculatory blood flow and ambient temperature. Photobiostimulation has been shown to increase blood flow. The objective was to characterize the spatial...

Background: External compression using pneumatic cuff inflation is a well-established model used to induce incremental changes in proximal retrograde flow and shear [1]. The mechanisms behind distal cuff compression leading to proximal increase in retrograde shear are not clear. We hypothesized that...

Background: Central aortic pressure waveforms can be modelled non-invasively in adults using general transfer functions. These techniques have been applied to, but not formally validated in paediatric populations. We recently developed and validated two age-appropriate paediatric transfer functions and...

Purpose: To provide a comprehensive assessment of aortic stiffness, through both local and regional distensibility and pulse wave velocity (PWV), in patients with either a tricuspid (TAV) or bicuspid (BAV) aortic valve and/or aortic dilation using MRI. Methods: We included 18 patients with TAV and dilated...

Background: Haemodynamic effects of Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) may be mediated by an improvement in early systolic function, as well as by improvements in overall systolic function. We examined whether CRT improves early ventricular contraction as measured by first-phase ejection fraction...

Introduction: The ventricles accelerate and decelerate blood; the resulting disturbances propagate through the arterial system as waves. These waves contain clinically useful information: e.g. their magnitude and timing varies with cardiac performance and their speed depends on arterial stiffness. These...

Background: Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) has long been considered a measure of arterial stiffness independent of short-term changes in blood pressure (BP) [1]. Recently and theoretically, CAVI was found to be partially affected by actual BP, thus, a novel BP-corrected index, CAVI0, was proposed...

Background: Arterial stiffness is a significant cardiovascular risk factor. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) is the standard for measuring arterial stiffness, but indices such as central augmentation index (cAIx) and carotid artery elasticity (cE[p]) also correlate to arterial stiffness. Early-life...

Introduction: Pressure waveshape derived parameters such as the augmentation index are related to unfavourable cardiovascular events [1]. Wave reflections determine wave shape [2], however, several findings seem to contradict the current views. Current view. The arterial system can be modelled by a tube...

Introduction: The concept of re-reflections of blood pressure waves at the heart has been neglected in most models and is only poorly understood so far. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop a simple mathematical model which is capable to represent the effects of wave travel, wave reflection...

Objective: Our aim was to investigate possible associations between birth weight (BW) and adult carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (cfPWV) and augmentation pressure index (AIx). Design: This study including 1598 participants, 340 elderly subjects and 1258 young-middle aged subjects from the Malmö Offspring...

Background: Hypogonadism associates with increased cardiovascular morbidity/mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)[1]. Increasing CAG repeat number within exon 1 of the androgen receptor gene associates with increased androgen receptor resistance/insulin resistance [2]. We here investigated the...

Background: Augmentation index (AIx) serves as an independent predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality. It is often clinically used as a measure of arterial stiffness and reflections, a practice that was recently challenged. In this work, we sought to investigate the association between AIx and...

Introduction: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have autonomic dysfunction, which impacts heart rate and blood pressure regulation. Initial evidence also suggests an impaired ability to peripherally vasoconstrict during lower body negative pressure (LBNP). Given the relationship between vessel caliber...

Purpose/Background/Objectives: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious postoperative complication. Increased arterial stiffness has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events. Our aim was to investigate whether arterial stiffness is a predictor of AKI in patients following surgical...

Extracellular and biochemical changes in the vessel contribute to the stiffening, this process is determinant for the increase of the Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) and subsequent increase of the central and brachial arterial pressures [1,2]. These vascular alterations are denominated of TOD (target organ...

Purpose/Background/Objectives: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a disease characterized by macro and microvascular complications, particularly, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and nephropathy [1–4]. The green tea extract has shown an anti-inflammatory effect (2), so this nutraceutical...

Background: Chemerin represents a recently discovered chemokine influencing adipocyte function, lipolysis, apparently positively associated with insulin resistance. Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between chemerin-insulin resistance scores in obese/diabetic patients. Methods: 88 patients (66...

Introduction: Both Type II Diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension have been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and linked to impairments in micro- and macrocirculation. However, previous studies examining micro- and macrocirculation in DM mainly include patients with comorbid...

Background: The pathophysiological mechanism underlying beta-cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes (T2D) is not fully understood. Recent animal studies suggest that microvascular dysfunction (MVD) may lead to insufficient delivery of oxygen and nutrients to beta-cells as well as an attenuated delivery...

Background: Arterial stiffness as measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) has been shown to predict cardiovascular events [1]. However, PWV is blood pressure (BP) dependent [2,3] leading to the development of cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) as a more blood pressure-independent index...

Background/Objectives: We previously demonstrated a different regional stiffness response of elastic and muscular arteries after the administration of nitroglycerin, leading to an alteration of aortic-brachial stiffness gradient. Regional stiffness of smaller arteries may respond differently to vasodilation...

In polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) hyperandrogenism and metabolic dysfunction increase cardiovascular risk. Vitamin D3 deficiency is a common comorbidity in PCOS. Our aim was to examine the alterations of insulin-induced vasodilation and receptor expression in rat aorta in a PCOS model. Methods: Female...