Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI) and its Potential Clinical Implications for Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Arterial stiffness is a surrogate indicator for the development of cardiovascular disease. The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is a recently developed clinical metric for evaluating arterial stiffness. Two characteristics of CAVI, which makes it amenable for widespread use, is its simplicity of measurement and the fact that it is relatively independent of blood pressure. Several recent clinical studies have shown the possible utility of CAVI for identifying patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease and for monitoring treatment effectiveness in lipid clinics.