• Peripheral vascular disease
• diastolic dysfunction
• tissue doppler

The Author's reply We appreciate the interest in our work,1 in which we have shown that adult hypertensive patients have lower distension and increased stiffness of ascending aorta as well as reduced wall velocities and wall strain as measured by tissue Doppler imaging and strain Doppler echocardiography.

Dr Bijnens et al2 suggest that the measured values might correlate with changes induced by hypertension, but they surely do not specifically describe changes in the aortic wall and conclude that dedicated analysis of aortic properties should investigate measurements that directly reflect aortic wall mechanics or blood hydrodynamics instead of …