Promising Assessment of Vascular Function for Future Cardiovascular Events

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Although the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease have significantly advanced, the residual risk of cardiovascular events remains high in patients with established coronary, cerebrovascular, and peripheral artery disease. Current guidelines recommend intensive therapies for secondary prevention in patients with high risk of cardiovascular events. Therefore, it is important to identify patients with high risk of cardiovascular events who may benefit from intensive therapies to minimize the subsequent risk. Recently, noninvasive vascular function tests have been developed to estimate vascular damage and risk of cardiovascular events. Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) as a marker of endothelial function and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) as a marker of arterial stiffness (a marker of medial layer function) are currently in clinical use to evaluate vascular function.