Patent ID: 8043223

Claim:
A method of measuring a characteristic of an artery in a patient, the method comprising the steps of: providing an ultrasound system having an ultrasound transducer; providing a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) monitor having a selectively inflatable and deflatable pressure cuff, the NIBP monitor being in communication with the ultrasound system; providing an optical plethysmographic sensor operable to generate a heartbeat signal for each heartbeat cycle for the patient; positioning the ultrasound transducer and the pressure cuff on the patient, the pressure cuff being located distal to the ultrasound transducer; deriving landmarks of the heartbeat cycle for the patient from the heartbeat signal from the optical plethysmographic sensor; measuring a pulse wave transit time from the ultrasound transducer to the optical plethysmographic sensor; automatically inflating the pressure cuff above a systolic pressure for the patient to occlude the artery for an occlusion period; automatically deflating the pressure cuff after the occlusion period and communicating the deflation to the ultrasound system; automatically detecting a parameter of an artery below the ultrasound transducer at a detection time within each heartbeat cycle determined from the landmarks of the heartbeat cycle after receiving notification of the pressure cuff deflation; determining arterial compliance based upon the pulse wave transit time measured following the occlusion period; and determining the endothelial dysfunction based upon the detected parameters of the artery following the occlusion period.