The finger volume pulse and assessment of arterial properties.

Introduction The non-invasive assessment of cardiovascular function by means of the peripheral arterial pulse has gained substantial interest in recent years due to the integration of sensor technology and the ubiquitous application of microprocessors. In its most basic use, the peripheral pulse provides a signal that establishes the presence of a beating heart and quantifies the cardiac rhythm and its variability with time. However, when transduction methods are employed that relate signal output to system biophysical properties, measures of vascular haemodynamics can be derived from the pulse waveform features. In this issue of the journal, Hashimoto et al. [1] use parameters derived from the photoplethysmographic signal obtained in the finger to establish relations between the peripheral pulse waveform features and stiffness parameters of central large arteries.