7C-4 A Novel Approach to Assess the Stiffness of Vessels by Means of Pulse Wave Analysis in Transcutaneous Ultrasound

Due to cyclic heart compressions, blood inside the vascular system is forwarded batch-wise. As a result, pulse waves propagate along the arterial vessel walls and are reflected on peripheral capillaries. The reflected pulses interfere with the incoming ones and cause a resulting pulse wave with a characteristic second peak. The shape of this pulse wave depends on the stiffness of the arterial wall, which is affected by e. g. aging or cardiovascular diseases. By means of a pulse wave analysis the actual state of the vessels can be estimated using transcutaneous ultrasound to assess e.g. the risk of arteriosclerosis. In this paper we present initial results of such an analysis obtained from transcutaneous ultrasonic imaging.