Detection and analysis of multi-dimensional pulse wave based on optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Pulse diagnosis is an important method of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM). Doctors diagnose the patients’ physiological and pathological statuses through the palpation of radial artery for radial artery pulse information. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an useful tool for medical optical research. Current conventional diagnostic devices only function as a pressure sensor to detect the pulse wave，which can just partially reflect the doctors feelings and lost large amounts of useful information. In this paper, the microscopic changes of the surface skin above radial artery had been studied in the form of images based on OCT. The deformation of surface skin in a cardiac cycle which is caused by arterial pulse is detected by OCT. The patient's pulse wave is calculated through image processing. It is found that it is good consistent with the result conducted by pulse analyzer. The real-time patient's physiological and pathological statuses can be monitored. This research provides a kind of new method for pulse diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine.