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(Hypertension. 2001;37:e23.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.

In Memoriam

Ray Kelly

Michael O’Rourke; David A. Kass

	Introduction

 
Raymond Kelly, who died at age 43, on October 5, 2000, was one of a small group of young cardiovascular researchers in Sydney who have made major contributions to their field over the past 15 years. Kelly’s work extended that of Stephen MacMahon on epidemiology of hypertension and complemented that of David Celermajer on arterial function, both working in the Olympic city.

Kelly’s major contributions related to the interpretation of the arterial pulse in humans. As a doctoral student in a department with strength in arterial hemodynamics, he was presented with a new tonometer that had been specially developed by Huntly Millar of Houston. Kelly validated this instrument against invasive recordings for clinical use in recording the radial and carotid pressure waveforms.¹ He then conducted a study in >1000 normal subjects to establish aging changes in the arterial pulse at the 2 anatomic sites. He showed there was a progressive rise with age in the second systolic pressure peak caused by progressive medial degeneration of the aorta and elastic arteries, and he emphasized that changes in the radial pulse paralleled those in the carotid pulse but followed several decades behind. He showed that increase in amplitude of the second systolic pressure peak in central arteries was due to early wave reflection, consequent on aortic stiffening, and that this could be reduced by vasodilator drug therapy.² An important corollary of this work, subsequently confirmed by colleagues Takazawa (Japan),³ and Fitchett (Canada),⁴ was that beneficial effects of vasodilator drugs on left ventricular . . . [Full Text of this Article]