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Updated: Jan 25, 2026
Ultrasound-based Pulse Wave Velocity Evaluation in Mice
Published on: February 14, 2017
Pulse Wave Velocity in Atherosclerosis
Hack-Lyoung Kim1, Sang-Hyun Kim1
1Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Insights
Pulse wave velocity (PWV) effectively detects arterial stiffness, aiding early identification of subclinical atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease risk. This non-invasive method offers a valuable tool for patient screening and risk stratification.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Diagnostic Imaging
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Early detection of subclinical atherosclerosis is crucial for cardiovascular risk reduction.
- Current diagnostic methods, including risk factors and imaging, have limitations in accuracy, cost, and safety.
- Arterial stiffness is closely linked to atherosclerosis progression, impacting endothelial function and atheroma formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) as a diagnostic tool for subclinical atherosclerosis.
- To assess the utility of PWV in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk stratification.
- To determine if PWV can identify individuals at high risk for atherosclerosis and CVD.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) measurement, a non-invasive technique assessing arterial stiffness.
- Reviewed clinical studies and meta-analyses examining the association between PWV and atherosclerosis.
- Analyzed longitudinal studies investigating PWV as an independent predictor of future CVD.
Main Results:
- PWV measurement is simple, non-invasive, and reproducible.
- Significant associations were found between PWV and coronary, cerebral, and carotid atherosclerosis.
- Longitudinal studies confirmed PWV as an independent risk factor for future CVD.
Conclusions:
- PWV is a valuable tool for diagnosing arterial stiffness and subclinical atherosclerosis.
- PWV measurement aids in the risk stratification of cardiovascular disease.
- PWV can effectively identify high-risk individuals for targeted screening and intervention.
Abstract:
Early detection of subclinical atherosclerosis is important to reduce patients' cardiovascular risk. However, current diagnostic strategy focusing on traditional risk factors or using risk scoring is not satisfactory. Non-invasive imaging tools also have limitations such as cost, time, radiation hazard, renal toxicity, and requirement for specialized techniques or instruments. There is a close interaction between arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis. Increased luminal pressure and shear stress by arterial stiffening causes endothelial dysfunction, accelerates the formation of atheroma, and stimulates excessive collagen production and deposition in the arterial wall, leading to the progression of atherosclerosis. Pulse wave velocity (PWV), the most widely used measure of arterial stiffness, has emerged as a useful tool for the diagnosis and risk stratification of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The measurement of PWV is simple, non-invasive, and reproducible. There have been many clinical studies and meta-analyses showing the association between PWV and coronary/cerebral/carotid atherosclerosis. More importantly, longitudinal studies have shown that PWV is a significant risk factor for future CVD independent of well-known cardiovascular risk factors. The measurement of PWV may be a useful tool to select subjects at high risk of developing subclinical atherosclerosis or CVD especially in mass screening.
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