Abstract
Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a reference measure for aortic stiffness, itself an important biomarker of cardiovascular risk. To enable low-cost and easy-to-use PWV measurement devices that can be used in routine clinical practice, we have designed several handheld PWV sensors using miniaturized laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) arrays in a silicon photonics platform. The LDV-based PWV sensor design and the signal processing protocol to obtain pulse transit time (PTT) and carotid-femoral PWV in a feasibility study in humans, are described in this paper. Compared with a commercial reference PWV measurement system, measuring arterial pressure waveforms by applanation tonometry, LDV-based displacement signals resulted in more complex signals. However, we have shown that it is possible to identify reliable fiducial points for PTT calculation using the maximum of the 2nd derivative algorithm in LDV-based signals, comparable to those obtained by the reference technique, applanation tonometry.
Highlights
Arteries are elastic structures that distend with each contraction of the heart in systole and elastically recoil in diastole, during which the stored elastic energy works on the blood
We have developed a working prototype of a 2×6 beam laser Doppler vibrometer for the assessment of arterial stiffness in humans and established a signal analysis protocol for carotid-femoral Pulse wave velocity (PWV) assessment, based on the 2nd derivative algorithm for foot detection, which is ECG-independent and allows a completely contactless assessment
laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV)-based PWV measurement is potentially applicable to large cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening campaigns and can be used by any health professional, including nurses and general practitioners
Summary
Arteries are elastic structures that distend with each contraction of the heart in systole and elastically recoil in diastole, during which the stored elastic energy works on the blood. Low-cost, point-of-care screening devices for reliable, fast and non- or minimally-invasive measurement of aortic stiffness are strongly needed. Aortic stiffness can be measured in a number of ways, but the non-invasive measurement of the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), a proxy for aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), is regarded as the current gold standard [3]. This has been demonstrated in many populations worldwide [4,5]. We will describe the first clinical applications and steps in the signal management necessary before performing a feasibility study in human subjects
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