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Biomedical subjects

B Rutschmann

Publications and source records attributed to B Rutschmann.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Conduit artery compliance and distensibility are not necessarily reduced in hypertension.

The goal of this study was to investigate whether the elastic behavior of conduit arteries of humans or rats is altered as a result of concomitant hypertension. Forearm arterial cross-sectional compliance-pressure curves were determined noninvasively by means of a high precision ultrasonic echo-tracking device coupled to a photoplethysmograph (Finapres system) allowing simultaneous arterial diameter and finger blood pressure monitoring. Seventeen newly diagnosed hypertensive patients with a humeral blood pressure of 163/103 +/- 4.4/2.2 mm Hg (mean +/- SEM) and 17 age- and sex-matched normotensive controls with a humeral blood pressure of 121/77 +/- 3.2/1.9 mm Hg were included in the study. Compliance-pressure curves were also established at the carotid artery of 16-week-old anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats (n = 14) as well as Wistar-Kyoto normotensive animals (n = 15) using the same echo-tracking device. In these animals, intra-arterial pressure was monitored in the contralateral carotid artery. Mean blood pressures averaged 197 +/- 4 and 140 +/- 3 mm Hg in the hypertensive and normotensive rats, respectively. Despite the considerable differences in blood pressure, the diameter-pressure and cross-sectional compliance-pressure and distensibility-pressure curves were not different when hypertensive patients or animals were compared with their respective controls. These results suggest that the elastic behavior of a medium size muscular artery (radial) in humans and of an elastic artery (carotid) in rats is not necessarily altered by an increase in blood pressure.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Effect of mental stress on the tone of a medium-sized muscular artery.

AIM: We studied the effects of mental stress on the tone of the radial artery, a medium-sized muscular artery. METHODS: Using an A-mode echo-tracking device coupled to a photoplethysmograph, we took continuous measurements of the radial artery diameter, heart rate and finger arterial pressure in six healthy young volunteers. RESULTS: Under mental stress, the heart rate increased from 63 +/- 4 to 74 +/- 4 beats/min (mean +/- SEM, P < 0.01) and systolic pressure from 123 +/- 5 to 140 +/- 6 mmHg (P < 0.05). No consistent modification in the arterial diameter was observed at this time. CONCLUSION: The activation of sympathetic nerve activity induced by mental stress does not cause a significant contraction in the radial artery.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Evaluation of antihypertensive therapy: discrepancies between office and ambulatory recorded blood pressure.

Non-invasive ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has proved to be very useful in investigating hypertensive patients. So far, almost everything known about this technique is based on studies performed in specialized centers. We summarize here the results of two trials in which private physicians used ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to assess the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs. The results found in this clinical setting were very similar to those observed previously in specialized clinics. In the individual patient, the level of ambulatory recorded pressure could not be predicted from blood pressure readings taken at the doctor's office. Furthermore, the blood pressure response to antihypertensive therapy was more reproducible when evaluated by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring than by the doctor. It appears, therefore, that non-invasive ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is also useful in everyday practice for the management of hypertensive patients.

Antihypertensive Agents↗
PubMed1991

[Non invasive measurement of arterial compliance].

Pulse pressure waves are damped by the elastic properties of the blood vessels. This damping capacity can be evaluated by measuring vascular compliance a parameter which expresses changes of volume with respect to changes of pressure. Arterial compliance varies continuously with respect to intravascular pressure. Our group has developed an ultrasonograph which functions in the A mode capable of measuring the diameter of peripheral arteries during the cardiac cycle. This system is coupled to a photoplethysmograph which records non-invasively and continuously finger blood pressure. This enables construction of pressure-diameter graphs and the determination of arterial compliance and distensibility at each pressure value.

Arteries↗