title: Noninvasive assessment of endothelial function in clinical practice.
abstract: In the fight against cardiovascular diseases, preventive strategies are becoming the focus of attention. One of these strategies proposes to identify individuals who are at a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Endothelial dysfunction could improve patient risk stratification and the implementation of preventive strategies. In this review we focus on noninvasive techniques that have recently become available to assess endothelial function: flow-mediated vasodilation as measured by ultrasound of the brachial artery, pulse wave analysis, and finger plethysmography during postischemic hyperemia. We describe the basic principles, the main protocols to perform these techniques, and their clinical value based on the scientific evidence.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Sciences Research Centre, St George’s, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Antonio L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Arrebola-Moreno
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laclaustra
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kaski
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000502:physiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply; D006801:Humans; D010991:Plethysmography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000502:physiology; D058067:Wavelet Analysis