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Carotid Artery Essay

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The pathological changes of the carotid artery can affect the brain and on another hand the hemodynamic changes at the heart, aorta and brain can be detected at carotid artery. For example, if the narrowing of the carotid arteries becomes severe enough to block blood flow, or a piece of atherosclerotic plaque breaks off and obstructs blood flow to the brain, a stroke may develop. Therefore, this is a strong rationale to consider that cardiovascular event may ultimately be more closely related to carotid artery rather than brachial artery [5]. Carotid arteries, the major vessels supplying the brain are directly connected to aorta closer than peripheral arteries such as brachial and radial artery (Figure 1). Currently research is more focused on non-invasive determination of pressure waveform measured at carotid artery [12].
The pulse examination of the human artery has been practiced in assessing health since the history of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the 6th century BC [13]. Pulse palpation is an important part of the vascular physical examination. The pulse can be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as carotid artery at the neck, brachial artery on the inside of the elbow, radial artery at the wrist and femoral artery at the …show more content…

The technique of non-invasive pulse wave analysis, as described here, depends on different principles and type of the pulse wave. Pulse wave analysis in clinical practice is commonly used by the hand-held tonometry probe. It is simple to use, a non-invasive and accurate method using a small strain gauge sensor detects the force on the artery wall [2]. The principal of applanation tonometry is a partial compression of a pulsating carotid artery against muscle and vertebral body of the neck and its pulse wave spreading in the skin impacts the

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