Automated oscillometric blood pressure and pulse-wave acquisition for evaluation of vascular stiffness in atherosclerosis

OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of an oscillometry-based device (VascAssist) combining fully automated ankle-brachial index (ABI) and pulse-wave velocity (PWV) assessment for detection of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 110 consecutive subjects including symptomatic PAD patients (n = 41) and healthy PAD-free participants (n = 69) were recruited. All subjects underwent standard manual Doppler-based ABI (sABI) and oscillometry-based automated ABI (aABI) measurements (VascAssist). Oscillometry by the VascAssist included central and peripheral PWV assessment. Additionally, arterial stiffness (AS) was evaluated by flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) of the brachial artery in all patients. All symptomatic PAD patients underwent catheter angiography for endovascular intervention and post-interventional acquisition of sABI, aABI, PWV and FMD. RESULTS: Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of aABI for detecting PAD was 73%, 100%, 100%, and 86% as compared to 80%, 96%, 92%, and 89% for sABI. Pearson-correlation for diabetics was r = 0.81; (P < .001) and for non-diabetics r = 0.77; (P < .001). Bland–Altman-analysis revealed a difference (95% CI) for diabetics of 0.09 (−0.22–0.4] and non-diabetics 0.022 [−0.25–0.295]. Weak correlation exists for FMD/AS analysis (pre-interventional R = 0.386, P = .043; post-interventional R = −0.06; P = .76) and significant increase of pre-/post-interventional PWV analysis (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Combined automatic ABI and PWV acquisition with the VascAssist device showed excellent diagnostic accuracy for detection of PAD. Compared to FMD, AS analysis may serve as an investigator-independent (screening) tool for determination of functional vascular damage in atherosclerosis.