Assessment of conduit artery vasomotion using photoplethysmography

Vasomotion is a spontaneous oscillation of vascular tone. The phenomenon has been observed in small arterioles and capillaries as well as in the large conduit arteries. The layer of smooth muscle cells that surrounds a blood vessel can spontaneously and periodically change its tension and thereby the arterial wall stiffness also changes. As the understanding of the phenomenon is still rather obscure, researchers would benefit from a low-cost and reliable investigation technique such as photoplethysmography (PPG). PPG is an optical blood pulsation measurement technique that can offer substantial information about the arterial stiffness. The aims of this pilot study were to evaluate the usefulness of the PPG technique in the research of vasomotion and to investigate vasomotion in the relatively large conduit arteries. Continuous 15 minute long measurements of posterior tibial artery wall stiffness were taken. Artery diameter, electrocardiogram, blood pressure and respiration were also simultaneously registered. Fast Fourier Transform power spectra were calculated to identify unique stiffness oscillations that did not correspond to fluctuations in the systemic parameters and thus would indicate vasomotion. We concluded that photoplethysmography is a convenient method for the research of the vasomotion in large arteries. Local stiffness parameter b/a is more accurate to use and easier to measure than the pulse wave velocity which describes stiffness of a segment of an artery. Conduit arteries might exhibit a low amplitude high frequency vasomotion ( 9 to 27 cycles per minute). Low frequency vasomotion is problematic to distinguish from the passive oscillations imposed by the arterial pressure.