Endothelial dysfunction in patients with arterial hypertension and its diagnostic difficulties

A literature published in 1999- 2005 on flow-mediated vasodilatation of the brachial artery and detective methods of NO in blood is reviewed. The aim of the review is to consider the positive and negative sides of investigative methods of endothelial dysfunction. The analysis of literature data showed that none the laboratory techniques are absolutely reliable. There is no technique that could accurately reflect quantitative rates of formation of a particular reactive species. The ultrasonic method is the most common in daily routine clinical practice, due to its high validity, simple technique. For estimation of endothelial function at a large population, the vascular ultrasound method, proposed by Celermajer et al. appears practical because of its non-invasive nature, its brief duration, repeatability and low variability.