Why test for arterial elasticity?
“Aging and disease states associated with an increase in cardiovascular events alter the physical characteristics of blood vessel walls and impair the pulsatile function of the arteries. An accumulating body of evidence indicates that impaired pulsitile function of arteries provides important prognostic and therapeutic information beyond that provided by traditional blood pressure measurements.” 2 “The ability to detect and monitor sub-clinical damage, representing the cumulative and integrated influence of risk factors in impairing arterial wall integrity, holds potential to further refine cardiovascular risk stratification and enable early intervention to prevent or attenuate disease progression.”3 “Accumulating evidence suggest that abnormalities in the pulsatile characteristics of arteries occur early in the disease processes associated with increased cardiovascular risk, and can be favorably modified by therapeutic interventions.”4 “We now know that the health of the endothelium a
