Valentina Taviani1, Stacey S. Hickson2,
Christopher J. Hardy3, Andrew James Patterson1,
Victoria E. Young1, Mark Butlin4, Carmel M. McEniery2,
Ian B. Wilkinson2, Jonathan Harvey Gillard1, Martin J.
Graves1
1Department of Radiology, University of
Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 2Clinical
Pharmacology Unit, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital,
Cambridge, United Kingdom; 3GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY,
United States; 4The Australian School of Advanced Medicine,
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Central
pulse pressure (PP) is a major determinant of ventricular afterload which can
be accurately measured only by means of invasive pressure measurements. In
this work, we present a method based on Fourier velocity encoded M-mode and
the cross-section-averaged flow equations to estimate the local PP in the
aorta. The obtained results were found to be in good agreement with
applanation tonometry performed in a cohort of 18 healthy volunteers
(bias=1.25mmHg, 95% limits of agreement (LOA) = [-5.7,8.2]mmHg) and
intravascular pressure measurements obtained in 4 patients undergoing
diagnostic catheterization ((bias=-0.37mmHg, 95% LOA = [-9.2,8.4]).