Microcomputer-based analysis of cardiovascular indices

Abstract

A microcomputer-based program has been developed which performs rapid and accurate acquisition of cardiovascular data from instrumented animals or isolated perfused hearts with concurrent analysis and display of the hemodynamic indices. The system allows real-time viewing of the data in four alternative graphic displays. These include: (1) a strip-charge type display of all channels; (2) a full screen display of any single channel; (3) display of pressuresegment length; and (4) trend graphs (cumulative change with time) of calculated hemodynamic indices such as heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, percent change in myocardial segment length, mean blood flow and percent change in arterial diameter. Precise analysis of both transient and steady-state events may be performed on any segment of data stored on the hard disk. The data at any point in the experiment may be accessed by cursoring through any trend graph of the derived indices, by recalling special event markers or by using the automatic time markers. The calculated results are printed and stored in ASCII files which can be transferred to spreadsheets, databases, graphics or statistical programs.