Measuring pulse wave velocity with a novel, simple sensor on the finger tip

Measuring pulse wave velocity with a novel, simple sensor on the finger tip: A feasibility study in healthy volunteers

van Velzen, M.H.N. (Erasmus MC; Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis)
Niehof, S.P. (Erasmus MC)
Mik, E.G. (Erasmus MC)
Loeve, A.J. (TU Delft Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology)

2019

Objective: The speed of pressure pulses traveling through the blood, the pulse wave velocity (PWV), is a metric that provides substantial information about the passive and active elasticity of the blood vessels. Therefore, PWV is a valuable parameter in the diagnosis of cardiovascular and vessel-related neurological diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a novel, simple, easy-to-use, photoplethysmography-based Multi Photodiode Array (MPA) provides PWV measurements that agree with measurements done with more complicated and harder-to-use systems currently used in clinical practice. Methods: An often-used vascular perturbation that changes the conduit artery vasomotor tone during reactive hyperemia was imposed on thirty healthy volunteers. The MPA was used alongside and its results compared to those of a commonly used measurement device, the Biopac-system, during flow-mediated dilation (FMD). This way it was investigated if measurements with these systems, measuring over two different, but partly overlapping vessel trajectories agree. Results: The baseline absolute PWV values were significantly lower for the MPA as compared to the Biopac-system. Additionally, Bland-Altman plots and Pearson's correlation tests suggested good agreement between the two PWV measurement techniques during the FMD. Conclusion: Measuring PWV with the MPA in clinical practice is feasible and provides reliable data. Significance: The MPA may substantially simplify PWV measurements and may enable long-term PWV monitoring as long as one is aware of the relation between PWV and the vascular trajectory over which it is measured.

endothelial function
flow-mediated dilation
Photoplethysmography (PPG)
pulse wave velocity (PWV)

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:487d8456-8c9b-48ed-8177-1e3f377a2195

https://doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/ab3ad8

2020-03-25

2057-1976

Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express, 5 (6)

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2019 M.H.N. van Velzen, S.P. Niehof, E.G. Mik, A.J. Loeve