Michigan State University

Mingwu Gao

Ramakrishna Mukkamala

Mohsen Moslehpour

Guanqun Zhang

Da Xu

A method is provided for determining pulse transit time of a subject as a function of blood pressure. The method includes: measuring a proximal waveform indicative of the arterial pulse at a proximal site of the subject; measuring a distal waveform indicative of the arterial pulse at a distal site of the subject; defining a relationship between the proximal waveform and the distal waveform in terms of unknown parameters of a nonlinear model; determining the unknown parameters of the nonlinear model from the measured proximal waveform and the measured distal waveform; and determining pulse transit time for the subject as a function of blood pressure from the parameters of the nonlinear model. The nonlinear model can account for arterial compliance and peripheral wave reflection, where the arterial compliance depends on blood pressure.

Methods and apparatus for determining pulse transit time as a function of blood pressure

Methods are presented for determining pulse transit time (PTT) and/or pulse wave velocity (PWV) of a subject by application of parametric system identification to proximal and distal arterial waveforms. The two waveforms are measured from the subject. A system is defined that relates the proximal arterial waveform to the distal arterial waveform (or vice versa) in terms of the unknown parameters of a parametric mathematical model. The model parameters are determined from the measured waveforms using system identification. PTT between the proximal and distal arterial sites is then determined from the system model. PWV may also be determined by dividing the distance between measurement sites (D) by PTT.

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East Lansing, MI, United States of America

Mingwu Gao