Comparison of arterial mechanical properties measured with arterial dispersion ultrasound vibrometry and clinical arterial stiffness metrics

Arterial stiffness is recognized as a highly clinically relevant and independent prognostic biomarker of cardiovascular disease. Arterial dispersion ultrasound vibrometry (ADUV) uses acoustic radiation force to generate propagating waves in the arterial wall and measures the wave motion to estimate arterial mechanical properties from fitting phase velocity dispersion curves to a waveguide model. ADUV measurements were made with a Verasonics V1 system with a L7-4 linear array transducer in 63 human subjects (27 male/36 female) from ages 50–88 years old. We made measurements at 10 time points within the cardiac cycle, termed cardiac stages. We estimated the phase velocity (median of cp from 400-600 Hz) and G determined from matching the dispersion curves with those from a waveguide model incorporating the artery diameter and wall thickness. Within the same study visit, we measured the intima-media thickness and diameter changes through the cardiac cycle with a General Electric Logiq E9 or E10 scanner. We also tonometry to determine the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity. We report here comparisons of median phase velocity, cp , and inverted shear modulus, G, at different stages of the cardiac cycle with clinical metrics of arterial stiffness.