ABSTRACT
Arterial input impedance describes the relationship between pressure and flow in an artery and characterizes the properties of the arterial bed downstream. Vascular input impedance is completely independent of the flow wave into the vascular bed, so determines the amplitude and contour of the pressure wave generated by any flow wave into the bed. These features make input impedance in the ascending aorta and in the main pulmonary artery of particular value in the study of the whole systemic and pulmonary vascular circulations, and in the interaction between systemic and pulmonary circulations with the left and right ventricle, respectively (O’Rourke and Taylor, 1967; Milnor, 1975; Nichols et al., 1977a; Noble, 1979a; Noble, 1979b; Elzinga et al., 1980; Nichols et al., 1980b; Nichols and Pepine, 1982; Brin and Yin, 1984; O’Rourke et al., 1984; Laskey et al., 1985; Nichols et al., 1985a; Yaginuma et al., 1985; Piene, 1986; O’Rourke et al., 1986a; Yin, 1986; Laskey and Kussmaul, 1987; Latham et al., 1988b; Milnor, 1989; Zuckerman and Yin, 1989a; Chen et al., 1990; Ting et al., 1991; Kelly and Fitchett, 1992; Ting et al., 1993; Ting et al., 1995a; Ting et al., 1995b; Mitchell et al., 1996; Mitchell et al., 2003; O’Rourke et al., 2004a; Jegger et al., 2006; Segers et al., 2007b; Mitchell et al., 2008; Chirinos et al., 2009a; Chirinos et al., 2009b; Chirinos and Segers, 2010a; Chirinos and Segers, 2010b).
