Measurement of coronary artery blockages using moderate frequency pressure

They authors have investigated the use of compliance waves to assess blockages in coronary arteries. They used a catheter based lithotripter to generate compliance waves in ex vivo coronary arteries of a calf heart and recorded the pressure waves at various locations along the descending branch of the Left Coronary Artery (LCA). At physiologically realistic pressures, the authors measured the propagation velocity of the waves to be from 14 to 20 m/s. They further demonstrated that coronary artery blockage produced recognizable compliance wave reflections.