Haemodynamic variables
CORTEX
Patients rested in a quiet room for at least 30 min in a supine position before any measurements. During the in-hospital phase, we conducted electrocardiography and measured the blood pressure and heart rate. Furthermore, we used a high-resolution ultrasonography unit (Dermascan C; Cortex Technology: 20 MHz, bandwidth 5 MHz) as previously described to measure the diameter of the frontal branch of the superficial temporal artery and the radial artery.