Regional measurement of arterial stiffness using Pulse Wave Imaging (PWI): Phantom validation and preliminary clinical results

Arterial stiffness is a well-established biomarker of cardiovascular disease. The Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) measure has been widely accepted as a surrogate for arterial stiffness. In this paper, the novel ultrasound-based, Pulse Wave Imaging method (PWI) is proposed for visualization of the pulse wave during its propagation and for calculation of the PWV in vivo in human. The PWI method is first validated in five arterial phantoms by comparing the values of elasticity obtained by PWI to those independently measured by mechanical testing. Good agreement was found with mechanical testing on phantoms (r²=0.92), showing the reliability of the method. In vivo average PWV was found to be equal to 5.6 ± 0.8 m/s in a population with no history of cardiovascular disease (n=ll, age=28.9±3.3). In this study, reliability and in vivo reproducibility of the PWI method were demonstrated.