Arterial wall stiffness can be associated with various diseases. The stiffness of an artery can be assessed by measurement of the pulse wave velocity (PWV). Usually, PWV is estimated using the foot-to-foot method. However, the foot of the pressure wave is not very clear due to reflected waves. Also, the blood pressure wave generated by the heart is normally a low frequency wave, hence the time resolution is low. PWV is an average indicator of artery stiffness between two measuring locations, therefore, it is not easy to identify local stiffness. In this paper a short external pulse is generated in an artery by the radiation force of ultrasound. The propagation velocity of the pulse wave is measured along the artery. The temporal resolution of this method, which is in the range of microseconds, is much higher than the conventional pressure PWV method, and therefore allows the wave velocity to be measured accurately over a few millimeters.

Volume Subject Area:
Bioengineering
Topics:
Ultrasound, Waves, Stiffness, Pressure, Resolution (Optics), Blood, Diseases, Radiation (Physics)
1.
American Heart Association, “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2003 Update,” Dallas: American Heart Association, 2003.
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Bramwell
J. C.
and
Hill
A. V.
, “
The velocity of the pulse wave in man
,”
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, vol.
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652
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3.
W. W. Nichols and M. F. O’Rourke, “McDonald’s Blood Flow in Arteries,” London: Arnold, fourth edition, 1998.
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