A simplified approach for real-time detection of arterial wall velocity and distension.
Arterial stiffness is known to increase with age and with many vascular diseases, but its noninvasive assessment in patients still represents a difficult task. The measurement of diameter change during the cardiac cycle (distension) has been proposed as a means to estimate arterial compliance and stiffness. Therefore, we have developed a simple PC-based device and algorithm for noninvasive quantification of vessel wall motion and diameter change in humans. This goal is achieved in real-time by processing the base-band signals from a commercial ultrasound Doppler system. Real-time operation is of crucial importance, because it allows a rapid achievement of optimal measurement conditions. The system was evaluated in a laboratory using a string phantom and was tested on the carotid arteries of 10 volunteers. Wall velocities from 0.05 to 600 mm/s and displacements lower than 2 microns were detected with phantoms. The measured carotid diameter change in the volunteers ranged from 7.5 to 11.8% (mean = 9.8%) and agrees closely with values reported in the literature. The difference between values taken one hour apart ranged from 0.2 to 0.5%. We conclude that the new system provides rapid, accurate, and repeatable measurements of vessel distension in humans.
Tortoli
P
P
Electronics and Telecommunications Department, University of Florence, Italy. ptortoli@det.unifl.it
Bettarini
R
R
Guidi
F
F
Andreuccetti
F
F
Righi
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001158:Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D014159:Transducers; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data