Historically, the importance of the arterial pulse wave was already observed by the Egyptians and the Chinese, before Christ. The knowledge of peripheral hemodynamics showed great progress after the introduction of non-invasive blood pressure (BP) measurement using the sphygmomanometer about 120 years ago and, to date, brachial BP represents an excellent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, changes in macro and microcirculation cannot be completely observed only by peripheral BP measurement. Thus, structural and functional vascular changes can be […]

Increased pulse pressure is associated with aging. This is mainly caused by increased systolic pressure, but also by decreased diastolic pressure. Diastolic blood pressure below 50 mmHg has been related to increased cardiovascular risk. With the development of devices that allow the indirect estimation of central pressure from the aortic root and analysis of arterial stiffness (another marker of cardiovascular risk), many studies have shown that changes in vascular dynamics are detected earlier using central measurements compared with peripheral blood […]

The large arteries, especially the aorta, are known to play a major role in the circulation of blood flow both during ventricular ejection and during diastole, thus providing the blood supply required by the organs. Additionally, the damping function exercised by the aorta plays a fundamental role in central hemodynamics, providing adequate ventricular-arterial coupling during the cardiac cycle.The loss of this function due to increased arterial stiffness plays a role in the development of hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy and […]