Relationship Between Aortic Stiffening and Microvascular Disease in Brain and Kidney

A close relationship has been established between microvascular damage in brain and kidney and indices of age and hypertension (pulse pressure, aortic pulse wave velocity, and augmentation index). The mechanism of such association has not been established, nor has rationale for prevention and treatment of microvascular damage. A logical pathophysiological explanation can be offered on the basis of differential input impedance in the brain and kidney compared with other systemic vascular beds. Torrential flow and low resistance to flow in these organs exposes small arterial vessels to the high-pressure fluctuations that exist in the carotid, vertebral, and renal arteries. Such fluctuations, measurable as…