title: Characteristics of spectral indexes of the blood pressure waveform in patients with breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A tumor can induce abnormalities in vessel properties and the blood flow distribution. The aim of the present study was to determine if blood-pressure-waveform (BPW) harmonic indexes can be used to discriminate hemodynamic differences between healthy control subjects and patients with breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten-minute bilateral radial BPW signals were obtained noninvasively in 23 breast-cancer patients and 23 healthy subjects. The amplitude proportion (Cn), phase angle (Pn), and harmonic variability (CVn) were calculated for harmonics 1 to 10 of the BPW.
  
  
  RESULTS
  C1, C2, and P1 were significantly smaller and P7, P9, CV2, and CV3 were significantly larger in the control group than in the cancer group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The differences identified between the breast-cancer and control groups illustrate significant hemodynamic changes induced by breast cancer at stages 0-2. The BPW harmonic indexes investigated in this study may be useful for detecting these hemodynamic changes and thus improving the sensitivity of discriminating between healthy controls and patients with early-stage breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Departments of aTraditional Chinese Medicine bSurgery, Taipei City Hospital RenAi Branch cGraduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chao-Tsung
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hsin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hsiu
authors.forename: Shuo-Hui
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Guan-Zhang
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yu-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging