Noninvasive Measurement of Time-Varying Arterial Wall Elastance Using a Single-Frequency Vibration Approach

The arterial wall elastance is an important indicator of arterial stiffness and a kind of manifestation associated with vessel-related disease. The time-varying arterial wall elastances can be measured using a multiple-frequency vibration approach according to the Voigt and Maxwell model. However, such a method needs extensive calculation time and its operating steps are very complex. Thus, the aim of this study is to propose a simple and easy method for assessing the time-varying arterial wall elastances with the single-frequency vibration approach. This method was developed according to the simplified Voigt and Maxwell model. Thus, the arterial wall elastance measured using this method was compared with the elastance measured using the multiple-frequency vibration approach. In the single-frequency vibration approach, a moving probe of a vibrator was induced with a radial displacement of 0.15 mm and a 40 Hz frequency. The tip of the probe directly contacted the wall of a superficial radial artery, resulting in the arterial wall moving 0.15 mm radially. A force sensor attached to the probe was used to detect the reactive force exerted by the radial arterial wall. According to Voigt and Maxwell model, the wall elastance (Esingle) was calculated from the ratio of the measured reactive force to the peak deflection of the displacement. The wall elastances (Emultiple) measured by the multiple-frequency vibration approach were used as the reference to validate the performance of the single-frequency approach. Twenty-eight healthy subjects were recruited in the study. Individual wall elastances of the radial artery were determined with the multiple-frequency and the single-frequency approaches at room temperature (25 °C), after 5 min of cold stress (4 °C), and after 5 min of hot stress (42 °C). We found that the time-varying Esingle curves were very close to the time-varying Emultiple curves. Meanwhile, there was a regression line (Esingle = 0.019 + 0.91 Emultiple, standard error of the estimate (SEE) = 0.0295, p < 0.0001) with a high correlation coefficient (0.995) between Esingle and Emultiple. Furthermore, from the Bland–Altman plot, good precision and agreement between the two approaches were demonstrated. In summary, the proposed approach with a single-frequency vibrator and a force sensor showed its feasibility for measuring time-varying wall elastances.