Ultrasound and Elasticity Imaging Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Am J Hypertens. 2010 Apr;23(4):393-8. doi: 10.1038/ajh.2009.272. Epub 2010 Jan 21.
Arterial stiffening is recognized to be associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and to be a major cause of several cardiovascular complications. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) has been widely accepted to be a reliable and robust measure of arterial stiffness. In this article, the novel ultrasound-based pulse wave imaging (PWI) method is hereby proposed for visualization of the pulse wave during its propagation and for calculation of the PWV.
The PWV is estimated by measuring the spatiotemporal variation of the pulse wave-induced displacement of the arterial wall within the imaged segment. The method is compared to mechanical testing on aortic phantoms in order to evaluate its reliability and accuracy, and in vivo results are presented on normal abdominal aortas (N = 11).
Good agreement was found with mechanical testing on phantoms (r(2) = 0.92), showing the reliability of the method. In vivo average PWV and Young's modulus were found to be equal to 4.4 +/- 0.6 m/s and 108 +/- 27 kPa, respectively.
Reliability and in vivo feasibility of the proposed PWI method were demonstrated in this study. Its simplicity of use and its capability of providing regional PWV render PWI a valuable tool for quantitative assessment of arterial stiffness. The utility of the method in a clinical setting has yet to be established and is part of an ongoing clinical study.
动脉僵硬与心血管死亡率的增加有关，是几种心血管并发症的主要原因。脉搏波速度（PWV）已被广泛认为是一种可靠且强大的动脉僵硬测量方法。本文提出了一种新的基于超声的脉搏波成像（PWI）方法，用于可视化脉搏波在传播过程中的传播，并计算 PWV。
通过测量在成像段内动脉壁的脉搏波诱导位移的时空变化来估计 PWV。该方法与机械测试在主动脉模型上进行了比较，以评估其可靠性和准确性，并在正常腹部主动脉（N=11）上呈现了体内结果。
与机械测试在模型上的结果吻合良好（r²=0.92），表明该方法的可靠性。体内平均 PWV 和杨氏模量分别为 4.4±0.6 m/s 和 108±27 kPa。
本研究证明了所提出的 PWI 方法的可靠性和体内可行性。其使用简单性和提供局部 PWV 的能力使 PWI 成为定量评估动脉僵硬的有价值的工具。该方法在临床环境中的实用性尚待确定，这是正在进行的临床研究的一部分。
