P6.10 A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE VICORDER AND SPHYGMOCOR DEVICES FOR THE NON-INVASIVE ASSESSMENT OF CENTRAL BLOOD PRESSURE

Abstract

Background: There is increasing evidence that central (aortic) blood pressure (BP) may be a more important determinant of cardiovascular risk than brachial BP. Most of actual devices to assess central BP non-invasively are partially operator-dependent, or rely on the detection of the late systolic shoulder as an estimation of central systolic BP (cSBP). The Vicorder is a new cuff-based, operator-independent device which obtains brachial BP waveforms using a volume displacement method and derives aortic waveforms using a previously published brachial-to-aortic mathematical transfer function1. Aim: to compare central BP measurements using the Vicorder and SphygmoCor devices. Methods: 27 subjects (38±11 years, 44% males) without cardiovascular diseases were studied after 10minutes of supine rest. Brachial BP was assessed using the Vicorder. Brachial pressure waveforms calibrated to brachial systolic and diastolic pressure were recorded using the Vicorder and radial pressure waveforms calibrated to brachial mean and diastolic pressure were recorded using the SphygmoCor. The corresponding cSBP measurements were compared between devices (vcSBP versus sphygcSBP). Results: The average (±SD) brachial BP was 113±12/63±8 mmHg. There was good agreement between vcSBP (106±12mmHg) and sphygcSBP (105±15mmHg; P=0.56). Similar results were observed for central pulse pressure (cPP), with a mean difference of 1.6 mmHg (P=0.18). Conclusions: the values of cSBP and cPP provided by the Vicorder and SphygmoCor devices show good agreement when radial artery waveforms are calibrated to brachial mean and diastolic pressure. Further comparative data are required in a larger sample size, and with invasive BP measurements.