Patent Abstract:
an apparatus for assessing cardiovascular status of a mammal comprises a system for locally applying a pressure to an artery capable of restricting blood flow through said artery , a wideband external pulse transducer having an output and situated to measure suprasystolic signals proximate to said artery , and a computing device receiving said output for calculating vascular compliance values . the method described is particularly useful for determining cardiac output , assessing whether a pregnant female has preeclampsia or a patient has cardiac insufficiency , or assessing cardiac arrhythmias .

Detailed Description:
arterial compliance refers to the stiffness of arteries . in young healthy people , arteries are compliant so that a volume of blood ejected causes them to distend more for a given pressure . by contrast , stiff arteries ( arteries with a low compliance ) distend less . compliance ( c ) is measured by the change in volume ( dv ) per unit increase in pressure ( dp ) ( brinton , cotter et al . 1997 ; de simone , roman et al . 1999 ): compliance can be measured fairly accurately by stroke volume ( sv ) divided by pulse pressure ( pp ) even though the arterial circuit is not a totally closed system ( chemla , hebert et al . 1998 ): arterial compliance , although important , is not commonly measured in clinical practice , as the measurement is difficult to perform . pulse pressure is easy to measure using a blood pressure cuff , but stroke volume is more difficult . studies have measured stroke volume with echocardiography , pulmonary artery catheters , radio nuclide scans or magnetic resonance imaging ( mri )— all expensive or invasive techniques . for this reason , accurate measurement of compliance remains a research technique at this point in time . arterial compliance can also be derived from the rate of change of pressure from the aortic pressure contour , if peripheral vascular resistance is known ( liu , brin et al . 1986 ). peripheral vascular resistance can only be calculated if cardiac output ( co ) can be measured . this limits the utility of the technique . compliance can also be derived from the diastolic pressure decay of the pulse contour of a peripheral pulse using certain assumptions . this technique , however , has limited value when pulse rates are high as the diastolic phase is incomplete . compliance can be measured by imaging an artery with ultrasound or mri and determining the change in arterial volume between systole and diastole . this requires expensive equipment and is technician - dependent , and reproducibility may be a problem . nevertheless , imaging of the thoracic aorta or carotid artery is used to a limited extent in clinical studies . clinically , the most commonly used means of assessing compliance is to measure pulse wave velocity ( lehmann , riley et al . 1997 ; blacher , asmar et al . 1999 ). pulse wave velocity ( pwv ) is related to compliance of blood vessels such that pwv is higher in non - compliant vessels . this technique does not measure compliance per se , but provides an indication of arterial compliance . in practice , it requires a sensor to be placed over both the carotid ( neck ) and femoral ( groin ) arteries and the delay between the pulses recorded at the sensors to be measured . the technique is somewhat cumbersome and uses either ultrasound or piezoelectric sensors . another clinically used means of assessing compliance ( but not actually measuring it ) is determining pulse augmentation index ( yasmin and brown 1999 ). pressure pulse waves travel into the arterial circuit and are reflected back from the distal aorta causing an augmentation of the aortic pulse pressure ( as shown in fig8 ). if the aorta is stiff , the pulse wave travels rapidly and is reflected more completely from the distal aorta . this leads to marked augmentation of the aortic pressure . by contrast , if the distal aorta is compliant , less reflection occurs resulting in less augmentation . arteries normally have a muscular layer , as well as elastic fibers . with hypertension , aging , and arteriosclerosis , elastic fibers breakdown and the arteries become stiffer with increase in fibrous tissue , cholesterol deposits and hypertrophy of the encircling muscle . these changes affect compliance . arterial compliance is therefore clinically important for several reasons . first , it is a measure of arterial disease . aging , atherosclerosis and hypertension all decrease aortic , coronary , and carotid artery compliance . it is known that patients with less compliant vessels have reduced life expectancy . and second , an improvement ( increase ) in compliance reduces blood pressure and improves cardiac performance . this leads to less strain on the heart and improved exercise tolerance . this is particularly important in the management of hypertension and heart failure . treatment modalities which improve compliance include antihypertensive drugs , female sex hormones , cholesterol lowering drugs , physical exercise and exercise training . the ability to monitor arterial compliance would enhance patient care in these areas . compliance measurements have been performed in clinical studies by utilizing aortic pulse wave velocity , applanation tonometry of the radial or carotid arteries , or ultrasonic assessment of the carotid arteries . these studies have demonstrated that patients with atherosclerosis and hypertension have less compliant arteries ( blacher , asmar et al . 1999 ; bortolotto , blacher et al . 2000 ; van popele , grobbee et al . 2001 ). suprasystolic measurements of compliance will provide similar results but more simply and at less cost . for this reason , this technology can be used to detect the presence and severity of vascular diseases . disease and aging of arteries affect the aorta , carotid , and coronary arteries to a similar extent . arteries of the upper extremities are affected less . thus , aortic compliance is strongly related to overall compliance and is , in addition , a good measure of vascular risk . the method of the invention is similar to conventional blood pressure measurement except that the stethoscope is replaced with a sensor having a transducer , preferably a transducer with a frequency range of from about 0 . 1 to at least 1000 hz . a typical frequency response of a sensor useful according to the invention is shown in fig6 . according to the invention , a sensor 2 having a proximal edge 4 and a distal edge 6 is placed over the brachial artery 8 under the blood pressure cuff 10 about one centimeter from distal edge 6 , as shown in fig7 . recordings from sensor 2 are preferably amplified , passed through an analog to digital converter , and displayed on a pc using , for example , national instruments labview software . further analysis of the waveform can be performed using software such as the matlab software from the mathworks inc . following application of the blood pressure cuff and sensor , the cuff is inflated above systolic pressure and then deflated slowly to allow for recording of each pulse signal . fig1 represents a typical recording . suprasystolic ( k 1 ), subdiastolic ( k 3 ) and beats between systole and diastole ( k 2 ) can be detected . systole and diastole can be characterized by the onset and offset of higher frequency ( audible ) signals as shown in fig8 . the suprasystolic signals are then recorded and analyzed . the equipment used in the studies incorporated a cardiodyne nbp2000 ( luxtec corporation ) blood pressure monitoring system , which had been modified to provide the requisite bandwidth ( as shown in fig6 ). the unit had an automatic inflation - deflation system with the rate of deflation adjusted to 3 mmhg per heart beat . an ekg input facilitated the deflation mechanism . signals were then recorded on a pc . some specific details about the equipment configuration are given in fig9 ( a ) and 9 ( b ). three representative signals are shown in fig1 ( a ) to 10 ( c ). in fig1 ( c ), the subject was an 85 year old with hypertension of 160 / 85 . the compliance values indicated in fig1 ( a ) to 10 ( c ) range from 1 . 86 to 0 . 67 , which is significant in that the varying compliance values reflect the varying condition of the patients &# 39 ; cardiovascular systems . it is instructive to compare fig1 with fig1 ( a ) to 10 ( c ). in the latter cases , seven points have been identified : analysis of the waves includes the identification of the following , using the notation vn for the voltage at point n , and tn for the absolute time at that point : 5 . measure of compliance : ss 1 / ss 2 ratio ( v 2 − v 3 )/( v 4 − v 5 ) 6 . measure of pulse wave velocity : aortic transit time = t 4 − t 2 7 . measure of vasoconstriction : ss 1 / ss 3 ratio =( v 2 − v 3 )/( v 6 − v 5 ) 8 . measure of vasoconstriction : amplitude of ss 3 above baseline = v 6 − v 1 measures 5 , 6 , 7 and 8 have been chosen on the basis of clinical understanding and , although somewhat arbitrary , were used in the following studies as a means of measuring aortic compliance and peripheral vasoconstriction . during cardiac catheterization in 20 patients , ascending aortic pressure tracings were recorded concomitantly with the suprasystolic recordings using the ekg as a time reference . an example of such a tracing is shown in fig1 . the three curves from the ascending aorta represent three separate beats plotted against the suprasystolic signal . it can be seen that the incident wave ss 1 corresponds with the upstroke and initial phase of the aortic pressure tracing and that the rate of change of pressure from the aortogram is similar to the upstroke of the ss 1 . this verifies that the characteristics of ss 1 can be used as measure of contractility of the heart . the ss 2 occurs in mid to late systole and corresponds to the augmentation wave discussed below . also , the trough following the ss 2 corresponds with the dicrotic notch signifying the end of systole , and the ss 3 is a diastolic wave . to determine whether the pattern of the suprasystolic beats varied above systole , beats were recorded at 3 mmhg intervals in 37 subjects by inflating the blood pressure cuff to between 45 and 100 mmhg above systole . time intervals and the amplitude of points were plotted for each pressure . the time intervals are found to be relatively stable over a range of suprasystolic pressures . by contrast , the amplitude or voltage of the signals varied , especially as the cuff pressure approached systole . for this reason , it is important to determine systole initially and then inflate the cuff to a standard value above systole for the purpose of recording suprasystolic beats . resulting analysis suggested a value between 40 and 50 mmhg above systole is optimal to provide reliability yet minimize discomfort to patients . as mentioned previously , arterial compliance is not currently utilized as a physiological monitoring variable in clinical practice due to difficulty in assessing it . nevertheless , arterial compliance changes markedly under different physiological states suggesting it could be a useful physiological variable to monitor . furthermore , if compliance could be measured , then stroke volume could be calculated using equation ( 3 ). stroke volume ( sv ) is the volume of blood pumped by the heart with each beat expressed in milliliters . normal sv at rest is 70 - 80 ml for the average adult . this is an important physiological parameter , dependent upon the strength of the heartbeat and the resistance to flow in the arterial circuit . sv increases with physical exercise and will fall with heart failure or from shock . sv is not easy to measure , requiring invasive equipment ( e . g ., pulmonary artery catheters ) or expensive imaging devices such as ultrasound or mri . a number of non - invasive means of assessing sv from peripheral arterial waveforms have been proposed , but none are accurate . a simple way to measure sv non - invasively would be advantageous in a number of clinical settings , for example intensive care , during surgery , emergency rooms , obstetrics and in the management of patients with heart disease . the aorta distends in systole ( if compliant ), accommodating the stroke volume . thus , measuring aortic compliance ( c ) provides an opportunity to derive stroke volume ( sv ) from its relationship with pulse pressure ( pp ) as given in equation ( 2 ). thus : pulse pressure can be accurately determined from measured systole and diastole with this monitoring technique ( blank , west et al . 1988 ; hirai , sasayama et al . 1989 ). by deriving a relationship between the ss 1 / ss 2 ratio and compliance measured in a series of patients using equation ( 3 ), one can then calculate an estimate of sv from measured ss 1 / ss 2 ratios . to establish the relationship of ss 1 / ss 2 to compliance , measurements of stroke volume and pulse pressure must be obtained in a large sample of patients . a relationship has been formulated based upon preliminary data and is shown in fig1 . the actual form of the fitting function should be determined from a larger sample . however , it appears at this stage than both logarithmic and power function regressions are good candidates . thus , we have the following preliminary relationships : c = 1 . 011 + 0 . 402 ln ( ss 1 / ss 2 ) ( 6 ) logarithmic fit for compliance c = 1 . 018 ( ss 1 / ss 2 ) 0 . 257 ( 7 ) power function fit for compliance where in denotes the natural logarithm . however , it is within the scope of the invention that useful compliance values can be generated from broader ranges . for example , compliance could be calculated from an equation of ( from about 0 . 90 to about 1 . 20 ) plus ( from about 0 . 35 to about 0 . 45 ) times the natural log of ( ss 1 / ss 2 ) or ( from about 0 . 90 to about 1 . 20 ) times ( ss 1 / ss 2 ) times ( from 0 . 225 to about 0 . 275 ). compliance is known to be increased by physical exercise ( joyner 2000 ), anesthetic agents , and the administration of nitroglycerin . the physiological mechanism is via reduction of sympathetic nervous system activity and by release of nitric oxide from the endothelium , which dilates the smooth muscle encircling the arteries . by contrast , acute reductions in arterial compliance are caused by discharge of the sympathetic nervous system and vasoconstrictive agents ( such as norepinephrine ). many of these physiological responses not only alter arterial compliance but also have concomitant effects on peripheral vasoconstriction . the responsiveness of the monitoring system to known physiological states , which acutely influence arterial compliance , has been tested . four separate interventions were studied — exercise , spinal anesthesia , sublingual nitroglycerin and immersing the hand of a subject in ice water ( the so called “ cold pressor ” test ). mild physical exercise was performed in 20 subjects of different ages ( 19 - 65 ) to achieve a heart rate of 100 - 120 beats per minute . suprasystolic signals were measured before , immediately after , and 3 minutes following exercise . ss 1 / ss 2 ratios increased in 18 of the 20 subjects , usually by a factor of between 2 and 3 when comparing pre - and immediately post - exercise waveforms . ss 1 / ss 3 ratios often increased as well , suggesting peripheral vasodilatation . the amplitude of the ss 1 tended to increase . these changes suggest an increase in compliance , reduction in peripheral vasoconstriction , and an improvement in stroke volume . typical tracings for before and after exercise are shown in fig1 . note the increase in compliance , stroke volume , heart rate , blood pressure , cardiac output and dv 1 / dt 1 as a result of the exercise . in one very fit male , two intensities of exercise were performed and values of stroke volume calculated based upon our algorithm . stroke volume at rest was 81 ml . it increased to 133 ml with moderate exercise . following very vigorous exercise , stroke volume was 212 ml ; sv returned to 95 ml following a period of rest . the response to sublingual nitroglycerin was determined in 4 patients undergoing coronary angiography . a 2 - fold increase in ss 1 / ss 2 was noted ( indicating an increase in arterial compliance ) but change in the degree of peripheral vasoconstriction ( as evidenced by changes in ss 1 / ss 3 ) was less evident . changes in suprasystolic signals following spinal anesthesia in 20 elderly men undergoing prostatectomy were determined . in 15 patients , the level of spinal anesthesia was localized and the changes in circulatory physiology minimal . in these patients , ss 1 / ss 2 ratios and ss 3 voltages were unchanged or increased slightly , verifying a preservation of arterial compliance and peripheral vasoconstriction . however , in 5 patients , the anesthesia was more extensive resulting in more profound changes in blood pressure requiring administration of ephedrine , a vasopressor , to restore circulatory function . changes in suprasystolic beats were seen in all of these patients . a typical signal is shown in fig1 for a patient who developed hypotension and a slow heart rate in response to the spinal anesthesia . by using our algorithm ( described below ) to measure stroke volume , we calculated that stroke volume fell from 97 to 63 ml and cardiac output declined from 6 . 9 l to 3 . 3 l . following administration of ephedrine , sv increased to 80 ml and co to 6 l . note in the figure the drop in dv 3 with extensive spinal and its augmentation with ephedrine . the cold pressor test was applied in 6 subjects by immersing the contralateral hand in ice water for three minutes and recording the suprasystolic signals . the ss 1 / ss 2 ratio decreased in all subjects by a factor of 2 to 3 , indicating a decrease in compliance . measures such as the ss 1 / ss 3 ratio indicated increases in peripheral vasoconstriction . a typical pair of tracings is shown in fig1 . note too that stroke volume and cardiac output change very little . the pulse wave travels from the heart to the distal aorta and back to the heart , and then passes down the arm where it is detected as the ss 2 signal . the ss 1 travels from the heart down the arm . thus , the time delay between ss 1 and ss 2 is the time taken for the pulse to travel from the heart to the distal aorta and back to the heart ( see fig1 ). recordings in over 100 adults of different ages have demonstrated ss 1 - ss 2 time delays of 0 . 08 to 0 . 22 seconds . assuming that the distance from the heart to the distal aorta is 50 cm , these correspond to pulse wave velocities of around 5 to 12 m / sec , about the normal ranges noted . furthermore , in 20 patients undergoing coronary angiography , aortic pulse wave velocities were measured directly from ascending and distal aortic pressure tracings . an example of this analysis is illustrated in fig1 . the measured pulse wave velocities were very similar to the values predicted from the ss 1 - ss 2 values . thus , the ss 1 - ss 2 time delay is an indicator of pulse wave velocity , although not a measure as such as the length of the aorta is assumed to be unknown . this data is also confirmatory that the ss 2 emanates from the distal aorta and not the periphery as blank assumed . peripheral vasoconstriction refers to the state of contraction of small arteries and arterioles in the peripheral circulation . similar to large arteries , peripheral vasoconstriction is under the control of the autonomic nervous system and is also modulated by an array of factors including circulatory hormones ( adrenaline , angiotensin ) and local factors such as nitric oxide . increased vasoconstriction reduces blood flow to organs , may increase blood pressure and put a strain on the heart . by contrast , vasodilatation may lead to a drop in blood pressure . peripheral vasoconstriction is typically assessed by deriving peripheral vascular resistance ( pvr ) given a known mean arterial pressure ( map ) and cardiac output ( co ): pvr may also be assessed from pulse signals measured in the radial artery using assumptions similar to those utilized in determining compliance . increased vasoconstriction is seen with heart failure , preeclampsia and hypovolemic shock . vasodilatation is seen in bacterial sepsis , hyperpyrexia and anesthesia . a simple measure of vasoconstriction would be clinically useful in clinical practice especially intensive care , obstetrics , surgery and emergency room settings . age results in reduced compliance of the aorta . age also is associated with increased atherosclerosis and hypertension , which further reduces compliance ( bulpitt , rajkumar et al . 1999 ). fig1 shows suprasystolic values plotted against age for 33 normal subjects studied so far . part ( a ) shows regression of the time between ss 1 and ss 2 , which is an average of pulse wave velocity . part ( b ) shows the ss 1 / ss 2 ratio . part ( c ) shows the ss 1 / ss 3 ratio . part ( d ) is a regression of the amplitude of ss 3 versus age . it is envisioned that a large database will be generated , which may be used to calculate an age - adjusted aortic compliance or vascular age range for patients . such databases can be generated for subpopulations ( e . g ., obstetrics ), ethnic groups and different population to provide more specific age - adjusted vascular risk profiles . arteries have a muscular layer , which can dilate or constrict . the tone of the muscular layer of the large arteries is controlled by the sympathetic nerves as well as by signals derived from the endothelium or inner layer of the artery . dysfunction of the endothelium is believed to be a precursor to arterial disease resulting in less compliant arteries . currently , endothelial dysfunction ( ed ) is measured by changes in the diameter of the brachial artery with certain stimuli . a reduced dilatation from a vasodilatory stimulus such as ischemia or exercise is a measure of impaired endothelial dysfunction . patients with poor endothelial dysfunction have increased risk of coronary artery disease and vascular death ( sharma and andrews 2000 ). the problem with assessing ed currently is that it is done by measuring changes in the diameter of the brachial artery with expensive ultrasound equipment . furthermore , the brachial artery is a vessel not commonly affected by vascular diseases . a simple way of assessing changes in arterial responsiveness as a marker of endothelial dysfunction in a clinically relevant artery such as the aorta would be useful . preeclampsia is a disease of pregnancy of unknown etiology which leads to pathology of the arterial system resulting in a reduction in blood flow to the placenta , kidneys and in the advanced stages , liver , brain and heart . it is a major cause of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity , affecting 5 - 7 % of pregnancies . currently , diagnosis is made on the basis of onset of hypertension and protein in the urine . the only effective treatment is delivery of the baby . the condition is known to be associated with increased vasoconstriction and endothelial dysfunction ( roberts and cooper 2001 ). to date , 6 preeclamptic and 4 normal pregnant control patients ( matched by age , ethnic origin and gestation ) have been studied . analysis of suprasystolic signals demonstrated increased vasoconstriction ( ss 1 / ss 3 ratio ) and reduced compliance ( ss 1 / ss 2 ratio ) in all preeclamptic patients . fig1 shows a comparison of typical waveforms for a preeclamptic woman and her control . analysis of the duration of systole and diastole can have diagnostic significance . for example , it is advantageous to have a longer diastole in certain cardiac conditions to facilitate coronary perfusion and ventricular filling . suprasystolic signals enable the timing of systole and diastole . these times have been measured . systole tends to be relatively stable but was shortened following the valsalva maneuver , labored breathing and immediately after physical exercise . irregular heart rates can be detected by variations in beat - to - beat heart rate with this monitor . heart rate can be determined by time delay between beats . the presence of an ectopic beat can be determined by profound differences between beats as seen in fig2 . differences in amplitude and duration of ss 1 and ss 1 / ss 2 and ss 1 / ss 3 ratios can be used to detect arrhythmias . random heartbeats in atrial fibrillation can be also identified . arrhythmias are abnormal heartbeats and are usually considered to be an indicator of cardiac pathology . they are commonly diagnosed using an electrocardiogram ( ekg ). however , detecting cardiac arrhythmias is an important adjunct to a clinical screening monitor , which could identify the need to obtain an ekg . in addition , identification of ectopic beats is important as they should generally be excluded from analysis as they are not a normal beat . respiratory patterns have significant effects on circulatory function . inspiration and expiration cause fluxes in venous return and transthoracic pressure leading to phasic changes in stroke volume and arterial pressure . these changes are most pronounced in patients with low blood volumes ( or shock ), patients with disordered autonomic nervous system function and when large fluxes in respiratory pressure are imposed ( such as coughing , respiratory distress and patients on ventilators ). there has been , to date , no easy way to assess these changes without invasive hemodynamic monitoring . these changes are of diagnostic importance especially in critical care environments such as intensive care , during surgery and in emergency rooms . analysis of suprasystolic waves provides a non - invasive means of assessing changes in circulatory function with ventilation . to demonstrate changes in suprasystolic signals with ventilation , the cuff pressure was inflated to 40 mmhg above systolic pressure . subjects then ( 1 ) breathed quietly , ( 2 ) breathed through a straw to simulate labored breathing , and then ( 3 ) performed a valsalva maneuver . the changes over the respiratory cycle that occur with quiet breathing are minimal but present . maximal changes in ss 1 / ss 2 ratios , amplitude of ss 1 and ss 3 and time delay between ss 1 and ss 2 are shown in fig2 . note the minimal changes . breathing through a straw resulted in significant alterations in suprasystolic signals : a 6 - fold variation in ss 1 / ss 2 ratios ; a 30 % reduction in the amplitude of ss 1 and a 50 % range in the amplitude of ss 3 . these variations can be readily seen in fig2 . finally , the response to a valsalva maneuver was performed in several subjects . valsalva maneuvers are known to result in an acute reduction in blood pressure , stroke volume and abolition or reduction in aortic pulse wave reflection . marked changes in amplitudes , ratios and time intervals are noted . the marked reduction in amplitude of the ss 2 wave , increase in ss 1 / ss 2 ratio and reduction in amplitude of the ss 1 are consistent with the known physiological effects of the valsalva maneuver ( murgo , westerhof et al . 1981 ) and are readily apparent in fig2 . the studies described in this section verify that suprasystolic signals can be used to assess changes in circulatory physiology with ventilation . because of the variation in suprasystolic waves caused by ventilation , it is necessary to sample 5 to 10 beats at a specific suprasystolic pressure . 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