Aortic stiffness is an important clinical parameter for predicting cardiovascular events. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) has been proposed for performing this evaluation non-invasively; however, it requires dedicated equipment and experienced operators. We explored the possibility of measuring aortic stiffness using ultrasound scans of the abdominal aorta coupled with the Bramwell-Hill equation. Healthy subjects were investigated; measurements of cf-PWV were taken by arterial tonometry and aortic systo-diastolic pressure difference was estimated using a validated model. Pulsatility of an abdominal tract of aorta was assessed by automated processing of ultrasound scans. Through a Bland-Altmann analysis, we found large biases when estimating each parameter by applying the Bramwell-Hill equation to the measured values of the other two paramters (bias, +/- 1.96 SD; PWV, about 2.1 +/- 2.5 m/s; pulsatility, 12 +/- 14%; pressure jump, 47 +/- 55 mmHg). These results indicate that the two measures are not interchangeable, and that a large part of the bias is attributable to blood pressure estimation. Further studies are needed to identify the possible sources of bias between cf-PWV and aortic pulsatility.
