Harvesting the thermal cardiac pulse signal.
In the present paper, we propose a new pulse measurement methodology based on thermal imaging (contact-free). The method capitalizes both on the thermal undulation produced by the traveling pulse as well as the periodic expansion of the compliant vessel wall. The paper reports experiments on 34 subjects, where it compares the performance of the new pulse measurement method to the one we reported previously. The measurements were ground-truthed through a piezo-electric sensor. Statistical analysis reveals that the new imaging methodology is more accurate and robust than the previous one. Its performance becomes nearly perfect, when the vessel is not obstructed by a thick fat deposit.
Sun
Nanfei
N
Computational Physiology Lab, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. nsun@cs.uh.edu
Pavlidis
Ioannis
I
Garbey
Marc
M
Fei
Jin
J
D003198:Computer Simulation; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011674:Pulse / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods*