ARTERIAL PULSE DYNAMICS IN AORTIC INSUFFICIENCY

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Abstract
Insufficiency of the aortic valves was produced acutely in anesthetized dogs while recording with optical manometers the femoral arterial and radial pulses together with the simultaneous central aortic pulse. Analyses of the pulse pressures obtained in these recordings, when compared with pulse pressure changes obtained under a var. of other conditions, indicate that there is nothing unusual about the peripheral pulse pressures in aortic insufficiency; the large values observed are merely a consequence of the large central pulse pressure together with the relative augmentation of this pulse pressure observed in normal peripheral pulses. A water hammer oscillation is responsible for the sharp upstroke and irregularities on the ascending limb of peripheral pulses in aortic insufficiency although it is not responsible for the high peak of pressure. The creation of an opening at the central end of the aortic system also destroys its resonant properties so as to reduce or abolish the aortic standing wave. This results in a reduction in or absence of the dicrotic waves in the Corrigan pulse. These observations give added support to the standing wave concept of the peripheral arterial pulse. In relative terms the Corrigan pulse does not fall as rapidly as the normal pulse since it does not exhibit the dip into the dicrotic notch. It, therefore, cannot be accurately characterized as a "collapsing" pulse.

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