Measurement of local pulse wave velocity on aorta for noninvasive diagnosis of arteriosclerosis

Small vibrations are simultaneously measured at two adjacent points on the aortic wall near the aortic valve by electronically alternating the directions of the ultrasonic beam. The transit delay time of the pulse wave between these two points is determined from two vibration signals obtained by this alternation beam method. The local pulse wave velocity at several millimeters on the aorta is precisely obtained by dividing the distance between these points by the resultant transit delay time. These local acoustic properties of the blood vessel will be very useful especially for noninvasive diagnosis of the early stage of arteriosclerosis