Central Aortic Blood Pressure and Pulse Wave Velocity as Additional Markers in Patients with Hypertension

Arterial stiffness is a pathological manifestation of cumulative vascular damage resulting from various known and unknown vascular risk factors. Central aortic pressure and pulse wave velocity are the two most commonly used and the most informative non-invasive measures of arterial stiffness. Numerous studies have documented incremental value of these measures in a variety of clinical conditions, most notably, hypertension. In hypertensive subjects, assessment of arterial stiffness not only provides incremental information about vascular risk, it also helps in guiding therapeutic decision making and serves as a tool for monitoring response to antihypertensive therapy.