Evaluation of Vascular Aging Using Arterial Stiffness for Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk

To begin, place the patient in a supine position for at least five minutes before beginning the assessment. Place a brachial cuff and secure it around the patient's arm, centered on the brachial artery. Then connect the brachial cuff tube to the SphygmoCor device tube.

Press the start button of the device two times for aortic pressure measurement. Obtain pulse wave analysis or PWA by applanation tonometry. After scaling the arterial pressure waveform, analyze the systolic part of the waveform, also considering biometric and demographic data, then obtain an automatic report of the test containing aortic parameters.

Proceed to perform carotid femoral pulse wave velocity or cfPWV determination through applanation tonometry method. Place a femoral cuff around the patient's thigh as high as possible, ensuring the tube is centered at the top of the leg. To find the carotid pulse on the patient's neck below the jaw, ask the patient to rotate their head slightly aside.

Once the carotid pulse is found at the strongest perceived site, place an indicator mark on the patient's skin. Obtain three measurements. First, the distance between the carotid pulse and the suprasternal notch.

Second, the distance between the suprasternal notch and the femoral cuff. And finally, the distance between the femoral artery by palpating the pulse on the patient's groin and the femoral cuff. Then introduce information on the three distances into SphygmoCor Excel software.

Now connect the femoral cuff tube to the SphygmoCor device tube. Place the tip of the tonometer on the site where the carotid pulse was previously located, then press the start button and estimate the cfPWV.