[Anti-hypertensive drugs associated with the improvement of pulse wave velocity]

Hypertension has long been considered a homodynamic disorder. In recent years, because of the introduction of innovative methods of measurement of pulse wave velocity (PWV), it is now possible to obtain an assessment of physiological role of the large arteries, thereby providing an index of arterial stiffening in hypertension. Now, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is a noninvasive and simple method of measuring arterial stiffness. We evaluated that baPWV is well correlated with age, blood pressure and many atherosclerotic risk factors. Clinical studies have shown that baPWV is improved by decreases in blood pressure and ARB. The ARB yields the largest reduction in baPWV followed by calcium channel blocker (CCB). Although ARB achieved the largest reduction in baPWV, the decreases were not only associated with the blood pressure but also with the endothelium function.