The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) represents a promising index of arterial stiffness. However, neither the CAVI measure nor its measurement device, the VaSera, have undergone general testing in a North American clinical setting. To begin the process of collecting normal values in the United States, we studied 20 male and 28 female volunteers without reported cardiovascular or renal disease and no history of smoking. Their CAVIs, ankle-brachial indices (ABIs), and four-limb blood pressures were measured in three positions: supine, 7° Trendelenburg, and 7° reverse Trendelenburg. In addition, the ABI function was validated against an established ABI measurement technique. Position was found to affect CAVI and other hemodynamic parameters, indicating that CAVI is not robust to slight positional variations. No differences were found in the blood pressure between arms or legs (interbrachial or interankle), supporting recent findings from meta-analyses and studies but contradicting other work. This study represents an early step in bringing the VaSera device and its CAVI measurement into clinical practice.
Keywords: ABI; CAVI; VaSera; arterial stiffness; interankle blood pressure; interarm blood pressure; interbrachial blood pressure.
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