Comparison of Different Methods to Estimate Transit Time in Pulse Wave Velocity Measurements

ARIEL PASCANER; MATÍAS PERNA; DAMIAN CRAIEM; MARIANO EZEQUIEL CASCIARO

Córdoba

Congreso; XXI Congreso Argentino de Bioingeniería y X Jornada de Ingeniería Clínica; 2017

Sociedad Argentina de Bioingeniería

Pulse Wave Velocity is an indirect biomarker of arterial stiffness. It is estimated from two pressure signals measured at 2 different points of a vessel as the quotient of distance and transit time. In this work we analyze 5 different methods to estimate transit time from these 2 pulse wave curves. After acquiring the signals with a prototype designed in our labs, they were digitally processed in 10 healthy volunteers. Repeated mesurements were also analyzed. The methods to obtain transit times were based on the curves slopes, peaks, mean and correlation values. Our results showed that pulse wave velocity values were in the range of 6 to 8 m/s and did not differ between methods (p=0.11). The coefficient of variation were ≈10% for repeated mesurements, where non-significant differences were observed, although the lowest variability was found with the maximum derivartive algorithm.