Abstract
We measured the intra-arterial pressures and pulse wave velocities simultaneously from aorta to radial artery using a guide-wire tipped with a pressure transducer before and after cardio-pulmonary bypass (CPB), and calculated the distribution of the stiffness parameters (called β) of aorta-to-radial artery wall. Thereafter, we converted β' s into the wall distensibilities. We found that before CPB the intra-vascular pressures increased gradually from aorta to radial artery, and that corresponding β and wall distensibility increased simultaneously. After CPB, the intra-arterial pressure and β or wall distensibility showed the gradual decrease from aorta to radial artery. These results suggest that aortic-to-radial artery pressure change is attributed to gradual change in β, that is, in the wall distensibilitiy. The cause of change in the wall distensibility after CPB is a subject for another study.
