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Abstract

An increasing number of physiological studies, as well as pathophysiological, epidemiological and pharmacological studies, have underlined the importance of measuring not only brachial systolic and pulse pressures in hypertensive patients but also central systolic and pulse pressures and pulse wave velocity. The aims of this chapter are to describe the various non-invasive methods currently available to measure pulse wave velocity (PWV) and central BP (cBP) in clinical practice, to detail the normal values in a healthy population and the reference values in a population of hypertensive patients with cardiovascular risk factors, to report the amplitude of changes under antihypertensive treatment in clinical trials and to detail the prognostic values of changes. Since PWV and cBP are two parameters strongly linked by their interdependency for the haemodynamic status of hypertensive patients, they will be addressed in parallel.

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Laurent, S., Boutouyrie, P. (2015). Pulse Wave Velocity and Central Blood Pressure. In: Agabiti Rosei, E., Mancia, G. (eds) Assessment of Preclinical Organ Damage in Hypertension. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15603-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15603-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15602-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15603-3

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