Progress in Clinical Evaluation of Artery Disease

pp 249-255

Abstract

Background

Lowering the arterial pressure and normalizing the arterial compliance should be included in the therapeutic approach of the hypertensive patient. Therefore, non invasive methods are needed to evaluate the elastic properties of the arterial wall as well as an accurate methodology with proved clinical use.

Material and method

The techniques employed for arterial compliance analysis used in clinical practice are described in this work and each one is illustrated with in edit studied cases. As the characteristics of the arterial wall are com-parable with the ones of the left ventricular wall, arteries must be analyzed taking into account the intrinsic wall properties, as it happens when a myocardiopathy is studied. On the other hand, arterial compliance is one of the factors against the left ventricular output, so it represents an essential element in the cardiovascular dynamics. When the arterial resistance against blood flow decreases the constituents of the vascular wall are exposed to less damage.

Results

Analyzing the arterial mechanics, the instantaneous pressure-diameter measurements from any artery, through a wide range of variation, show the elastic characteristic of this vessel. The experimental investigation prevails in this field, as the techniques used are not applicable to patients because of ethical aspects and limited technological development.

Conclusions

The methods of arterial mechanical evaluation will provide the cardiologist with the comprehension of the actual arterial characteristics of his patients; and this kind of evaluation, being part of the group of non-invasive studies, will be useful in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic.