Artery wall stiffness evaluation by new pneumatic sensor using improved method for measuring the pulse wave velocity

Abstract

The article discusses a new method for the pulse wave velocity estimation using a pneumatic blood pressure sensor previously developed by the authors and the capability of that method for the early atherosclerosis diagnosis. The method proposed is based on measuring by the pneumatic sensor of the so-called pulse transit time - the time delay between the pulse wave signal and the synchronous ECG record. The article substantiates the way of determining, according to the waveform of the pulse signal, of that front characteristic time moment, which is more reliable for the measuring the delay to the R-peak of an ECG. The issues of accounting the variability of the pulse wave front delay at different points of the artery in the calculating the mean value and standard deviation of the pulse wave propagation velocity are discussed in detail. Almost all discussed features of the proposed methodology are illustrated by experimental data.