[Does arterial compliance play a role in the physiopathology of hypertension?].

The buffering function of arteries consists of damping down cardiac pulsatility. This function can be evaluated by measuring arterial compliance using pulsed Doppler and pulse wave velocity measurements and analysis of pressure and flow waves in arteries. In human hypertension, the reduction of arterial compliance is well-documented; it is not only due to increased stretching of the arteries consecutive to the rise in blood pressure, but also to the fact that structural and/or functional changes in these vessels, as suggested by the fact that compliance is reduced in patients with borderline and mild hypertension and does not necessarily vary in parallel to drug-induced changes in blood pressure. Furthermore, arterial compliance is heterogeneously altered in borderline hypertension according to the level of cardiac output and in sustained hypertension according to the degree of arterial aging. Finally, reduced arterial compliance, by impairing the buffering function of arteries, increases arterial pulsatility and its adverse effects on cardiac load and on cyclic stress of arteries.