An automatic pulse wave velocity estimation using a blood pressure sensor for invasive measurement

The compliance and stiffness of artery are closely related to the disease of arteries. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) in the blood vessel is a basic and common parameter in the hemodynamic. Blood pressure (BP) and blood flow wave traveling in arteries are important because the PWV is affected directly by the condition of blood vessels. However, there is no standardized method to measure the PWV and it is difficult to measure. The conventional PWV measurement uses manual calculation of the pulse wave transmission time between coronary arterial proximal and distal points on a strip chart on which the pulse wave and ECG signal are recorded. In this study, a pressure sensor consisting of strain gauges is used to measure the BP of arteries in invasive method and regular ECG electrodes are used to record the ECG signal. The R-peak point of ECG is extracted by using a reference level and time windowing technique and the ascending starting point of BP is determined by using differentiation of the BP signal and time windowing technique. The algorithm proposed in this study, which can measure PWV automatically, shows robust and good results in the extraction of feature points and calculation of PWV.