Developing new methods to measure aortic stiffness

How accurate are our clinical measures of aortic stiffness? A combined in vitro, in silico and in vivo study

Dr Jordi Alastruey-Arimon and his colleagues at King’s College London are developing new methods to measure aortic stiffness, which could predict heart and circulatory disease. The aorta, the thickest and longest artery in the body, must be elastic and stretchy so it can supply smaller vessels with oxygenated blood to deliver around the body. The aorta becomes stiffer with age and disease, and as a result the risk of stroke, heart attack and other life-threatening problems increases. Many newer, non-invasive techniques measure aortic stiffness, but we don’t know which accurately reflects aortic stiffness and is the most useful in clinical practice. In this project, Dr Alastruey-Arimon will investigate how well these new methods measure aortic stiffness. He will combine clinical data collected at King’s, UK Biobank and AIRWAVES - a new set of data collected during the project - with computer and mechanical modelling of blood flow. He will then test these methods in healthy volunteers and patients to see if they give similar results to the current medical gold standard. By better understanding blood flow through the heart and circulatory system, this research could lead to better ways to measure aortic stiffness in the clinic, improving diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.