BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to determine the respective influences of local pulse pressure and mean blood pressure on arterial remodeling in humans at 2 arterial sites: a central, predominantly elastic artery (the common carotid artery) and a peripheral muscular artery (the radial artery). METHODS AND RESULTS Forty-three healthy subjects and 124 never-treated hypertensive pati...

Arterial measurements are commonly undertaken to assess acute and chronic adaptations to exercise. Despite the widespread adoption of scaling practices in cardiac research, the relevance of scaling for body size and/or composition has not been addressed for arterial measures. We therefore investigated the relationships between brachial artery diameter and body composition in 129 children aged 9...

Background. Although progressive chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with elevated systemic vascular resistance and increased impedance to ventricular outflow, the contribution of changes in large artery function has not been well documented in humans. Methods and Results. We studied 45 patients with a broad range of clinical severity ofCHF and compared noninvasive measurements...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to introduce a microvascular training model based on use of materials that can be easily obtained from the daily surroundings. METHODS Simple microinstruments and a medical school laboratory microscope were used for anastomosis training. Chicken blood vessels were used as a material for this study. A long segment of blood vessel from the proximal brachial ar...

Background: There have been no studies to date on the pathophysiologic mechanisms of how fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) affects vascular function. Due to the perturbations in the blood vessel wall and the propensity for stenosis, dissection, and aneurysms seen in arteries with FMD, subjects with FMD may have impairment in endothelial function and abnormalities in arterial compliance. Methods: Tw...

BACKGROUND Despite routine ultrasound mapping of upper extremity arteries and veins, early thrombosis and nonmaturation remain frequent complications following vascular access (VA) surgery. Besides vascular diameters, brachial artery stiffness is assumed to play an important role; however, reproducibility of measurements has never been established. The purpose of this study was to determine wit...

To characterize brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in children, we monitored arterial diameter changes with ultrasound between 40 and 180 s after a 4.5-min forearm cuff occlusion-induced hyperemia in 105 healthy children (mean age, 11 yr; range, 9-16 yr). The peak FMD was 7.7 +/- 4.0% and occurred 79 +/- 33 s after cuff release. FMD at 60 s (5.3 +/- 4.0%) was significantly lower tha...

Previous studies have demonstrated conflicting results on the effects of acute exercise on FMD. The aim of the study was to examine brachial artery FMD before and after 3 bouts of acute exercise performed at different intensities. 10 healthy males (mean±SD age: 22±1 years) completed 30 min of cycling at 50, 70 and 85% maximal heart rate (HRmax). Brachial artery FMD and the shear rate area-under...

Recommendations for the measurement of brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) typically suggest images be obtained at identical times in the cardiac cycle, usually end diastole (QRS complex onset). This recommendation presumes that inter-individual differences in arterial compliance are minimized. However, published evidence is conflicting. Furthermore, ECG gating is not available on many ultras...

BACKGROUND Although acute elevation in retrograde shear rate (SR) impairs endothelial function, no previous study has explored the effect of prolonged elevation of retrograde SR on conduit artery vascular function. We examined the effect of 2-weeks elevation of retrograde SR on brachial artery endothelial function in young and in older men. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirteen healthy young (23±2 yea...