Abstract
Objective: Increased aortic and carotid arterial augmentation index (AI) is associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease. The most widely used approach for determining central arterial AI is by calculating the aortic pressure waveform from radial arterial waveforms using a transfer function. But how the change of waveform by applied pressure and the pattern of the change rely on subject's characteristics has not been recognized. In this study, we use a new method for measuring radial waveform and observe the change of waveform and the deviation of radial AI in the same position by applied pressure. Method: Forty-six non-patient volunteers (31 men and 15 women, age range 21-58 years) were enrolled for this study. Informed consent in a form approved by the institutional review board was obtained in all subjects. Blood pressure was measured on the left upper arm using an oscillometric method, radial pressure waves were recorded with the use of an improved automated tonometry device. DMP-3000(DAEYOMEDI Co., Ltd. Ansan, Korea) has robotics mechanism to scan and trace automatically. For each subject, we performed the procedure 5 times for each applied pressure level. We could thus obtain 5 different radial pulse waveforms for the same person's same position at different applied pressures. All these processes were repeated twice for test reproducibility. Result: Aortic AI, peripheral AI and radial AI were higher in women than in men (P<0.01), radial AI strongly correlated with aortic AI, and radial AI was consistently approximately 39% higher than aortic AI. Relationship between representative radial AI of DMP-3000 and peripheral AI of SphygmoCor had strongly correlation. And there were three patterns in change of pulse waveform. Conclusion: In this study, it is revealed the new device was sufficient to measure how radial AI and radial waveform from the same person at the same time change under applied pressure and it had inverse-proportion to applied pressure.
