[Blood flow and compliance of great arterial trunks]

The important technical advances in the last few years in the field of ultrasonic imaging and Doppler velocimetry now enable an accurate evaluation of the vasomotricity, blood flow and compliance of the large peripheral arteries. The information provided by these new non-invasive techniques in clinical pharmacology is considerable as they make possible repeated measurements of different parameters of regional circulation (diameters, flow, pulse wave velocity and modulus of elasticity) and the assessment of the efforts of different vasoactive drugs on these values. Some limitations are nevertheless inherent to the non-invasive nature of the examination.