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Comparative Study
. 2011 Apr 15:9:13.
doi: 10.1186/1476-7120-9-13.

Doppler ultrasound in the measurement of pulse wave velocity: agreement with the Complior method

Jordi Calabia  1 , Pere Torguet, Maria Garcia, Isabel Garcia, Nadia Martin, Bernat Guasch, Diana Faur, Martí Vallés
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Doppler ultrasound in the measurement of pulse wave velocity: agreement with the Complior method

Jordi Calabia et al. Cardiovasc Ultrasound. .

Abstract

Aortic stiffness is an independent predictor factor for cardiovascular risk. Different methods for determining pulse wave velocity (PWV) are used, among which the most common are mechanical methods such as SphygmoCor or Complior, which require specific devices and are limited by technical difficulty in obtaining measurements. Doppler guided by 2D ultrasound is a good alternative to these methods. We studied 40 patients (29 male, aged 21 to 82 years) comparing the Complior method with Doppler. Agreement of both devices was high (R = 0.91, 0.84-0.95, 95% CI). The reproducibility analysis revealed no intra-nor interobserver differences. Based on these results, we conclude that Doppler ultrasound is a reliable and reproducible alternative to other established methods for the measurement of aortic PWV.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pulse wave velocity determination. Transit time is estimated by the foot-to-foot method. The foot of the wave is defined at the end of diastole, when the steep rise of the waveform begins. The transit time is the time of travel of the foot of the wave over a known distance.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time measurement in femoral arthery gatting with ECG in two heart rates.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Identity plot. Comparison of Doppler and Complior PWV measurement methods.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Bland and Altman plot of Complior vs. Doppler PWV with mechanical method as reference. The intervals of two standard deviations are considered as the concordance limits between the two measurements, accounting for 95% of the observed differences.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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