Windkessel effect is a term used in
medicine to account for the shape of the
arterial blood pressure waveform in terms of the interaction between the
stroke volume and the
compliance of the aorta and large elastic arteries (Windkessel vessels). Windkessel when loosely translated from
German to English means 'air chamber', but is generally taken to imply an
elastic reservoir. The walls of large elastic arteries (e.g.
aorta,
common carotid,
subclavian, and
pulmonary arteries and their larger branches) contain elastic fibers, formed of
elastin. These arteries distend when the
blood pressure rises during
systole and recoil when the blood pressure falls during
diastole. Since the rate of blood entering these elastic arteries exceeds that leaving them due to the
peripheral resistance there is a net storage of blood during systole which discharges during diastole. The distensibility of the large elastic arteries is therefore analogous to a
capacitor.