Carotid–Femoral Pulse Wave Velocity Assessed by Ultrasound: A Study with Echotracking Technology

摘要

Described here is a new method for determination of carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) based on arterial diameter waveform recording by an ultrasound system. The study was carried out on 120 consecutive patients. Carotid–femoral PWV was determined using a tonometric technique (PWVpp, PulsePen, DiaTecne, Mi- lan, Italy) and an echotracking ultrasound system (PWVet, E-Track, Aloka, Tokyo, Japan). The relationship be- tween PWVpp and PWVet was evaluated by linear regression and Bland–Altman analysis. There was excellent agreement between PWVet and PWVpp (Pearson’s r 5 0.94, 95% confidence interval: 0.91–0.96, p , 0.0001; PWVet 5 0.88 3 PWVpp 1 0.57). The Bland–Altman plot revealed an offset of 20.33 m/s with limits of agreement from 22.21 to 1.54 m/s. The coefficients of variation for within-subject repeatability between PWVet and PWVpp had were 5.79% and 8.47%, respectively, without significant differences in the Bland–Altman analysis. The results suggest that echotracking technology can provide a reliable estimate of aortic stiffness comparable to that of the tonometric techniques. (E-mail: mcollette@esaip.org)    ! 2017 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.