Arterial Wall Vibration Distal to Stenoses in Isolated Arteries of Dog and Man

It has been suggested that poststenotic weakening of arterial walls is caused by arterial wall vibration and structural fatigue initiated by pressure disturbances in turbulent blood flow. We examined the frequency spectra of wall vibration downstream from experimental arterial stenoses and compared them with the natural resonant vibration characteristics of the artery walls. Spectra of arterial wall displacement of isolated perfused dog and human arteries were measured with a noncontacting capacitance transducer during conditions of fluid flow through the artery; resonant vibration characteristics were determined during pure sine and random sound stimulation of the artery walls in the absence of flow. It is concluded that fluid flow through isolated arteries with an experimental stenosis excites the artery wall to vibrate over a wide range of frequencies within which are discrete frequencies that coincide with the resonant frequencies of the artery wall.