Non invasive procedure to evaluate the viscoelastic behavior of the brachial artery by oscillometric repeated measurements

A non invasive methodology to evaluate the viscoelastic behavior of the brachial artery by oscillometric repeated blood pressure measurements is proposed. The methodology is based on the quantitative evaluation of the curve representing the arterial cross sectional area vs. transmural pressure function: repeated loading and unloading of the brachial artery produces modifications of the shape of the curve which have been quantitatively evaluated. The procedure was tested on a homogeneous sample of subjects in order to evaluate its sensitivity to effect of the viscoelasticity. Two different viscoelastic behaviors and two significant parameters have been identified in the majority of the subjects whereas the method failed on 9% of the subjects examined. In addition two consecutive measurements have been found adequate to estimate the variations of the main parameters of the curve which allow an evaluation of the viscoelastic properties of the brachial artery.