Arteries become stiffer with increasing blood pressure: Agreement between computer simulation and clinical measurement

Arteries are naturally elastic and able to respond to different and changing pressure conditions. If these changes could be characterized and quantified, this would be clinically useful. This study investigated arterial property changes with changes in arterial pressure using computer simulations and clinical measurements. Three elastic tube models (ideal elastic model, stretching elastic model and physiological elastic model) were simulated to give the detailed relationships between arterial pressure (P) and arterial volume compliance (C) and pulse propagation time. Clinical measurements were performed in 8 subjects by positioning the arm to induce different arterial pressures. The changes in arm pulse propagation time, determined by subtracting ear pulse propagation time from finger pulse propagation time, were analyzed. Experimental results showed that both arm pulse propagation time and arterial volume compliance changes were inversely related to arterial pressure changes, which provided evidence that the characteristics of the physiological elastic model provide an understanding of how arterial properties change with arterial pressure.