Estimation of Central Systolic Blood Pressure from Peripheral Pressure Waves using a Novel Second Systolic Pressure-Based Method in Normal and Heritable Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits

Aim: Central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) was closely related to hypertension-related organ damage rather than peripheral systolic blood pressure (pSBP). We aimed to estimate cSBP from pSBP without generalized transfer function in normal and Kurosawa and Kusanagi-hypercholesterolemic (KHC) rabbits aged 12 months. Methods: Two catheter-tip transducers were advanced into the ascending aorta (AA) and distal end of the right brachial artery (Br) through the right common carotid and right radial arteries, respectively, under pentobarbital anesthesia. Pressure waves in response to the intravenous administration of angiotensin II and sodium nitroprusside were simultaneously recorded in AA and Br under regular cardiac pacing. Results: The first (pSBP) and second peaks (pSBP(2)) of the brachial blood pressure and their average (pSBP(m)) were significantly correlated with cSBP, despite Murgo’s wave pattern of central pressure waves in both rabbit groups. In Bland–Altman plot and its modification as a function of the peripheral augmentation index (pAI) analyses, the differences between pSBP and cSBP decreased, and those between pSBP(2) and cSBP increased significantly in their average- or pAI-dependent manner, with undeniable mean biases in both rabbit groups. When the same analyses for SBP(m) were performed instead, the mean bias was around zero, with reduced variance in the two rabbit groups. The observed pressure or pAI-dependent systematic biases for pSBP and pSBP(2) disappeared, representing the precise feature of pSBP(m) as a cSBP estimate. Conclusions: We conclude that pSBP(m) could be more precise than pSBP(2) as a cSBP estimate, irrespective of blood pressure levels, pAI, or the presence of atherosclerosis.