Carotid–Femoral Pulse Wave Velocity Assessed by Ultrasound: A Study with Echotracking Technology

ARTSENS®Pen—portable easy-to-use device for carotid stiffness measurement: technology validation and clinical-utility assessment

“…Another limitation concerns the use of brachial BP for carotid stiffness evaluation. However, this is a common limitation in the similar carotid stiffness evaluation modalities (Carerj et al 2005, Vriz et al 2013, Collette et al 2017, Yang et al, (2015, Bianchini et al 2010), which arises from lack of a reliable non-invasive technology to measure the carotid pressure. Blood pressure measurement using a bladder-type pressure cuff from the carotid artery is not practically feasible, and a clinically validated gold standard cuffless technique for carotid BP measurements is not available at present.…”

“…Despite the available state-of-art non-invasive techniques for arterial stiffness evaluation, the rate of early detection and control of vascular stiffening and related cardiovascular risks are low, especially in resource-constrained settings (Modesti et al 2014, Gupta et al 2017. Commercial ultrasound echo-tracking modalities like ALOKA eTracking (Hitachi-Aloka Medical, Ltd) (Carerj et al 2005, Collette et al 2017, Vriz et al 2013, Yang et al (2015) and ArtLab (Esaote, Europe B.V.) (Bianchini et al 2010) are clinically used for the measurement of stiffness parameters from target arterial sites. This feature, however, is not available in affordable entry-level devices (<$1000).…”

“…Other clinically used devices, that measure regional arterial stiffness (carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity) such as SphygmoCor ® (AtCor Medical Pty Ltd) (Vriz et al 2013, Butlin and Qasem 2017) and PulsePen ® (Dia-Tecne s.r.l.) (Salvi et al 2004, Collette et al 2017 require access to the groin area. The use of these devices in field settings suffer contextual constraints owing to the privacy issues and reluctance of volunteers, especially females, to participate, in the social context of Asian countries (Laurent et al 2006).…”

The Ultrasound Window Into Vascular Ageing: A Technology Review by the VascAgeNet COST Action

“…105 In addition to this physiological interference with the PWV estimate, the frame-rate of about 500 Hz (ie, a 2 ms sampling interval) in vivo placed this particular approach at the observation limit, with expected cross-transducer ($20 mm) transit times 2-4 ms (corresponding to 5-10 m/s). 104 Less strict limitations of sampling rate are related to estimates of PWV [106][107][108] ; as an example for regional assessment considering a distance between two sites of 0.5 m and a case of PWV around 15 m/s, the detection of a pulse transit time around 33 ms is required, so a frame rate higher than 30 fps is needed. However, these approaches remain to some degree subject to wave interference effects.…”

“…US-based carotid and aortic PWV is validated by the correlation coefficient with mechanical testing on aortic phantoms, invasive estimation, or tonometry. 106,109 Similarly, studies regarding carotid shear speed and loop based analysis report correlation with reference methods. 28,113,115 Precision.…”