High blood pressure is a problem that affects more than one in every four Americans. The disease can slowly destroy the blood vessels and lead to numerous problems, including heart attacks and strokes. But does blood pressure tell the whole tale of blood vessel health?

Blood pressure readings are the standard way to look at the blood vessels and whether they are open and relaxed enough. But the problem is, just because they’re open doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not stiff. And stiffness can lead to heart attacks and strokes. A new test supposedly evaluates the stiffness of the blood vessels.
“When I was 50 pounds heavier, carrying my own weight plus the weight of the stones was a real burden and I used to really dread it, complains 55 year old Ginger Azzopardi. She is a massage therapist who can now carry her own weight, and the weight of the stones she uses during her sessions more easily. She has trimmed down, and she credits, essentially, fear...after a routine checkup at her physician.
“I thought my arteries would be in good shape but they weren’t and that really scared me,” recalls Ginger.
Ginger’s arteries were evaluated with a small office-based device called the CV Profilor. It senses the pulse wave of the wrist artery through a small sensor placed over it. The computer does a mathematical analysis that determines the distensibility, or elasticity of the artery, and puts a number value to it.
Long before a heart attack occurs, before cholesterol builds up in an artery that can cause a heart attack, the blood vessel becomes inelastic. Measuring that inelasticity provides a benefit, according to San Mateo, California endocrinologist Dr. Joe Prendergast.
Dr. Prendergast says, “We couldn’t tell you you’re at ten times risk for heart attack or stroke but it can tell if you are normal or not and if you can bring it back to normal your risk of heart attack or stroke are exceptionally small.”
Blood pressure, which is the measurement of the pressure on the wall of the arteries, doesn’t tell you how stiff or elastic the arteries might be. Healthy arteries are flexible and elastic. They expand during the beat. Unhealthy arteries are stiff. They are hardened by a buildup of connective tissue and cholesterol plaques.
Those stiff arteries can, over time, put a person at risk for heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Brent Egan of the Medical University of South Carolina agrees, the CV Profilor has some diagnostic benefit. He says, “There are individuals for example who have high normal blood pressure, for example, where the vasculature may be abnormal but the blood pressure is minimally elevated.”
Dr. Prendergast adds, “We’re able to measure the small and large vessels on this machine which enables us to know that maybe your blood pressure is ok, but the arteries are going bad.”
In fact, there are some small studies that suggest among patients with the same blood pressure, those who have stiffer arteries have more complications. Dr. Egan states, “Knowing a patient has abnormal elasticity might lead a doctor to act sooner than later--to even more strongly emphasize healthy lifestyle changes, healthy exercise and things that could also help to improve arterial distensibility. It’s not that we wouldn’t do some of those things anyway but it would lead us to be more intensive and focused in some of those therapeutic suggestions.”
Each CV Profilor test costs around 175 dollars out of pocket. Some insurance companies, but not Medicare, will pay for it. Dr. Prendergast says that inelasticity would be a tip-off to use specific types of blood pressure medicines, such as the group called angiotensin-receptor blockers, or ARB’s, which he says do well in terms of helping the vessels become more relaxed.
After learning of her abnormal test results, Ginger treated herself more aggressively, lost her weight with diet and exercise, and saw improvements in her arterial elasticity. “I was able to lose the weight and I have more energy and I sleep better, I walk the dog easier. “I truly believe that little gizmo saved my life because it woke me up and showed me what’s under the hood.”

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