A review of commercially available non-invasive vascular screening technologies for clinical applications

Cardiovascular diseases contribute to one third of the world´s mortality and morbidity, therefore early cardiovascular disease diagnosis, treatment and monitoring has become an important market. Ideally, an early diagnosis device will need to be accurate, non-invasive, low cost and operator independent. Interestingly enough, there is a wide range of non-invasive devices available, but each with a different degree of accuracy and ease of use. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review commercially available technologies for non-invasive vascular screening. As stiffness index, reflection index, augmentation index, central aortic pressure are most commonly used to screen for vascular risk, these indices are first defined. Then existing technologies are categorized into four main sections: tonometer, pressure cuff, ultrasound and photoplethysmography. The characteristics of the ten most popular devices are then tabulated, with emphasis on which index is measured and whether the device in question has been properly validated. It is thought that this short review will provide a reference for potential clinicians as well as researchers in the field, allowing them to select the adequate device matching their requirements. Our review points to the fact that current devices, although claiming to be clinically oriented, are more research focused rather than clinical/home-based monitoring.