This educational guide outlines the development and clinical applications of Pulse Wave Analysis. It has resulted from written contributions by an honorary advisory group each involved in aspects of the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease.

The objective has been to produce an understandable and interesting document that can be updated at intervals with useful information from the world literature.

The adoption of innovative technology in the routine practice of medicine requires objective and protracted appraisal. In the development of new medical technology a compelling influence is the need to visually represent, quantify and to store what would otherwise be only observer subjective information. This is true for PWA that has evolved from a mechanical recording of the peripheral pulse with a slow response time in the 19th century into a sophisticated computer-based non-invasive method for the accurate recording of both peripheral and central pulse profiles. Based on current world experience, this document introduces how the technology should be used in the management of a range of macrovascular, hypertensive and cardiac problems.