Assessment and prognosis of peripheral artery measures of vascular function.

The endothelium plays a crucial role in the regulation of vascular homeostasis. Our understanding of its role in health and disease has increased dramatically since the pivotal discovery of nitric oxide more than 30 years ago. Clinical researchers utilized emerging technologies to study the vasodilator properties of the endothelium in both the coronary and peripheral circulation. Early studies established the methodologies and were able to demonstrate attenuated endothelium-dependent vasodilation in response to atherosclerosis and its risk factors. A variety of interventions can modulate endothelial function. More recent studies have established that some of these measures are independent predictors of cardiovascular outcomes. As such, peripheral measures of endothelial function are now established surrogate markers of vascular risk and have become important markers for clinical research. In this review, we will discuss a variety of measures of peripheral artery function to assess both conduit and resistance vessel function in humans.