TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of microvascular structure in humans
T2 - A 'state-of-the-art'document of the Working Group on macrovascular and microvascular alterations of the Italian society of arterial hypertension
AU - Virdis, Agostino
AU - Savoia, Carmine
AU - Grassi, Guido
AU - Lembo, Giuseppe
AU - Vecchione, Carmine
AU - Seravalle, Gino
AU - Taddei, Stefano
AU - Volpe, Massimo
AU - Rosei, Enrico Agabiti
AU - Rizzoni, Damiano
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The evaluation of microvascular structure is, in general, not an easy task. Among the methods that may be applied to humans, plethysmographic evaluation of small arteries and wire or pressure micromyography were extensively used in the last decades. The media-to-lumen ratio of small arteries evaluated by micromyography was demonstrated to possess a strong prognostic significance; however, its extensive evaluation is limited by the local invasiveness of the assessment. Noninvasive approaches were then proposed, including capillaroscopy, which provides information about microvascular rarefaction. Recently, the interest of investigators was focused on the retinal microvascular bed. In particular, a noninvasive measurement of the wall-to-lumen ratio of retinal arterioles using scanning laser Doppler flowmetry has been introduced. Recent data suggest a rather good agreement between this approach and micromyographic measurements, generally considered the gold standard approach. Therefore, the evaluation of microvascular structure is progressively moving from bench to bedside, and it could represent, in the immediate future, an evaluation to be performed in all hypertensive patients, in order to obtain a better stratification of cardiovascular risk.
AB - The evaluation of microvascular structure is, in general, not an easy task. Among the methods that may be applied to humans, plethysmographic evaluation of small arteries and wire or pressure micromyography were extensively used in the last decades. The media-to-lumen ratio of small arteries evaluated by micromyography was demonstrated to possess a strong prognostic significance; however, its extensive evaluation is limited by the local invasiveness of the assessment. Noninvasive approaches were then proposed, including capillaroscopy, which provides information about microvascular rarefaction. Recently, the interest of investigators was focused on the retinal microvascular bed. In particular, a noninvasive measurement of the wall-to-lumen ratio of retinal arterioles using scanning laser Doppler flowmetry has been introduced. Recent data suggest a rather good agreement between this approach and micromyographic measurements, generally considered the gold standard approach. Therefore, the evaluation of microvascular structure is progressively moving from bench to bedside, and it could represent, in the immediate future, an evaluation to be performed in all hypertensive patients, in order to obtain a better stratification of cardiovascular risk.
KW - Capillaroscopy
KW - Microcirculation
KW - Micromyography
KW - Plethysmography
KW - Retinal arteriole
KW - Retinal vessels
KW - Small arteries
KW - Videomicroscopy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84927646905&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84927646905&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/HJH.0000000000000322
DO - 10.1097/HJH.0000000000000322
M3 - Article
C2 - 25275242
AN - SCOPUS:84927646905
VL - 32
SP - 2120
EP - 2129
JO - Journal of Hypertension
JF - Journal of Hypertension
SN - 0263-6352
IS - 11
ER -