Endothelial dysfunction and the clinical application

The vascular endothelium is a large organ that secretes numerous factors regulating vascular tone, cell growth, platelet and leukocyte interactions and thrombogenesis. Endothelial dysfunction is an early event in atherogenesis and is also important in establish coronary artery disease. Over the past decade a noninvasive technique has evolved to evaluate flow-mediated vasodilation, an endothelium-dependent function. Procedure is realised on the brachial artery. The stimulus provokes the endothelium to release nitric oxide with subsequent vasodilation that can be imaged and quantitated as the index of vasomotor function. (Fig. 1, Ref. 2.).