Patent ID: 7390303

Claim:
Apparatus for assessment of relative changes in the cross sectional area of a limb artery, comprising: a measurement cuff adapted to apply a pressure to an artery; a measurement unit adapted to determine, over one or more cardiac cycles, a value for a parameter related to the cross-sectional area of the artery, while the pressure is applied; a controller adapted to apply to the cuff a pressure that causes the cross-sectional area of the artery to change between systole and diastole much more than if the pressure is not applied, and to induce at least two measurement rounds of the parameter by the measurement unit while the pressure is applied; wherein the controller is adapted to induce at least one of the measurement rounds responsive to an indication that a stimulus was administered to the artery and at least one of the measurement rounds before the indication that the stimulus was administered to the artery is received; and a processor adapted to compare the values determined by the measurement unit in the at least two measurement rounds; wherein the controller is adapted to apply a pressure between the diastole and systole pressure levels of the artery such that the artery collapses in diastole and recuperates in systole.