Novel Uses of Office-Based Measures of Arterial Compliance

Office-based blood pressure monitoring has been the primary way of managing the cardiovascular risk associated with a diagnosis of hypertension. As research unfolds the nature in which the pulse waveform is generated, additional insights beyond standard measures of systolic and diastolic blood pressure have emerged to help reclassify the cardiovascular risk of patients or point out patterns that have, in longitudinal cohort studies, shown promise as predictors of outcomes such as heart failure. In this review, we focus on the pressure profile in the proximal aorta that can be obtained easily and noninvasively from the radial or brachial artery during a clinical office encounter and the potential value of these measures in outcomes such as left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure.