A New Method for Assessing Total Cardiovascular Stiffness—Preliminary Data

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a new method for assessing total cardiovascular stiffness using the following five hemodynamic parameters gathered during a routine echocardiogram: (1) left ventricular stroke volume, (2) left ventricular ejection period, (3) heart rate, (4) systolic blood pressure, and (5) diastolic blood pressure. This study uses eight volunteer patients undergoing a routine echocardiogram at the University of Missouri Hospitals. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) data was taken immediately after the echocardiogram and compared to the cardiovascular stiffness result obtained from the echocardiogram data. The R2 value for this comparison was 0.8499 which shows a good correlation. We hypothesize that our new method for assessing total cardiovascular stiffness may be considered equivalent to that of the PWV method.