The Effect of Blood Pressure Pulsatility on the Baroreflex Gain

This paper makes a connection between blood pressure pulsatility and baroreflex gain in human subjects. While baroreflex gain may be difficult to examine, low frequency oscillations found in human blood pressure can be used as... [ view full abstract ]

This paper makes a connection between blood pressure pulsatility and baroreflex gain in human subjects. While baroreflex gain may be difficult to examine, low frequency oscillations found in human blood pressure can be used as a surrogate coarse measurement of the baroreflex gain. Analysis is performed via a mathematical model that examines the presence or absence of a low frequency oscillation in human blood pressure signal. Mayer waves are well-known low frequency oscillations that occur in human blood pressure signals at approximately 0.1 Hz. This paper proposes that an examination of Mayer waves can be used to examine variation in baroreflex gain. This examination could provide more information on the effect of an absence of pulsatility in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) patients.