Study of central aortic pressure in hypertensive patients and characteristic of radial artery pressure waveform in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Pulse diagnosis is one of important diagnosis methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In TCM, the pulse condition is closely related to the pulsation of heart, unobstructed blood vessels and abundance or shortage of Qi and blood. From a hemodynamic point of view, the arterial pulsation comes from the beating of the heart. The beating of heart results in the periodically circumferential and axial motions of the elastic blood vessel and in turn the oscillation of the vessel generates pressure and flow waves which propagate throughout the arterial system, which is called the pulse wave. Central pressure may better represent the load imposed on the coronary and cerebral arteries and thereby bear a stronger relationship to vascular damage and prognosis. This study is about central aortic pressure in hypertensive patients and characteristic of radial artery pressure waveform in Traditional Chinese Medicine.