Non-Invasive Assessment of Endothelium-Dependent Vasodilation in Elderly Patients with both Hypertension and Cerebral Infarction

Objective To evaluate the endothelium-dependent vasodilation function in elderly patients with both hypertensive disease and cerebral infarction.Methods Emeasurements of brachial artery diameter were performed by high-resolution ultrasonography during baseline,reactive hyperemia and sublingual nitroglycerin administration in sixty-eight patients with both hypertensive disease and cerebral infarction and forty-six healthy subjects.Reactive hyperemia-induced and nitroglycerin-induced percent changes in brachial artery diameter were calculated.Results The percent change in the brachial artery diameter induced by reactive hyperemia in the patients with both hypertensive disease and cerebral infarction was significantly less than that in healthy subjects.No significant difference could be found in percent change in the brachial artery diameter induced by sublingual nitroglycerin between the patients and the controls.Conclusion In elderly patients with both hypertensive disease and cerebral infarction,the endothelium-dependent vasodilation function is impaired.It is an accurate and noninvasive method to evaluate endothelial function of peripheral artery with high-resolution ultrasonography.