Non-invasive measurement of aortic pressure in patients: Comparing pulse wave analysis and applanation tonometry

The aim of the present study was to validate and compare novel methods to determine aortic blood pressure non-invasively based on Oscillometric Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) measurement using four limb-cuff pressure waveforms and two lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) with a validated tonometric pulse wave analysis system in patients. After receiving the consent, in 49 patients with hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, PWV, and central blood pressures were recorded in a randomised manner using both the oscillometric and tonometric devices. All recordings were performed 10 minutes after the patient lying comfortably in a noise-free temperature-controlled room. The test was performed between 09 am and 10 am after overnight fast. A minimum of three measurements were performed by the same skilled and trained operator. From the raw data obtained with two devices, software calculated the final vascular parameters. A total of 49 patients (8 women and 41 men), of mean age 40.5 years (range: 19-81 years) participated in the present study. After transforming the brachial pressures into aortic pressures, the correlation coefficient between the Aortic Systolic Pressure (ASP) values obtained with two methods was 0.9796 (P