Effects of a multiple mild infra-red-A induced hyperthermia on central and peripheral pulse waves in hypertensive patients

The paper reports on the effects of multiple whole-body infra-red-A irradiational (IRA) on 13 male patients known to have stage I or stage II essential arterial hypertension (WHO definition). The peripheral blood pressure was decreased significantly by IRA exposures. The lowered diastolic blood pressure lasted into post-treatment time. This effect is regarded as a consequence of an improvement in peripheral haemodynamics. A measure of this improvement is the different shape of the blood pressure pulse waves. Calculation and comparison of the spectral components of the recorded pulse signals show that these components are useful for a prediction of the blood pressure lowering effect.