Radiological assessment of arterial branching coefficients

Abstract

Measurements made on a series of normal aortograms show that at the bifurcation of the normal human aorta there is a mean decrease in the size of the vascular bed by a factor of 0·77. This decrease is also seen in patients with hypertension. Measurements made at a number of other arterial divisions show only a small increase in the size of the vascular bed (1·15-1·25). These findings conflict with previous necropsy reports and have important implications in the study of arterial blood flow.