Wrist pulse measurement and analysis using Eulerian video magnification

Abstract

The wrist pulse reveals important information on the health status of a subject. The morphology and characteristics of the wrist pulse play a significant role in analyzing and diagnosing abnormal health conditions. In ancient China, measuring the wrist pulse was considered an important part of the traditional Chinese medicine. Recent studies attempted to quantify this ancient diagnostic technique and proposed several approaches to extract useful information from the wrist pulse signal. In this paper, a digital camera is used to record standard videos of the wrist. The Eulerian video magnification method is employed to detect, non-intrusively, the wrist pulse signals. Then the 2-Gaussian curve modeling method is applied to analyze the signals. Spatial decomposition and temporal filtering are then used on the frames of the recorded videos. The subtle motion and color changes that correlate with the blood flowing through the artery are visualized through amplifying the filtered signal. To verify the performance of the Eulerian video magnification method for detecting the wrist pulse signal, the photoplethysmogram (PPG) pulse signal was measured. The two signals were recorded simultaneously and were compared. The experimental results demonstrate that the Eulerian video magnification method can be used to capture the characteristics of the wrist pulse signal and has the potential for predicting important cardiovascular events.