Heart vessel crosstalk; association between left ventricular diastolic function and macrovascular reactivity, captured by brachial-radial flow-mediated slowing

Abstract

Funding Acknowledgements: Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Research Foundation Flanders FWO Background: Endothelial dysfunction is recognized as an early sign of cardiovascular (CV) disease and has been closely linked to left ventricular (LV) diastolic function through shared mechanisms such as nitric oxide imbalance. While flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is the gold standard for assessing endothelial function, its technical complexity limits its use in daily clinical practice. Flow-mediated slowing (FMS), a non-invasive and user-friendly technique that measures transient changes in brachial-radial pulse wave velocity (PWV) during reactive hyperaemia, may offer a reproducible and practical alternative.