Friday, August 09, 2024

Caltech Team Develops First Noninvasive Method to Continually Measure True Blood Pressure

Good news! But it is only a promise that needs further validation in practice!

"The new patented technique, called resonance sonomanometry, uses sound waves to gently stimulate resonance in an artery and then uses ultrasound imaging to measure the artery's resonance frequency, arriving at a true measurement of blood pressure. In a small clinical study, the device, which gives patients a gentle buzzing sensation on the skin, produced results akin to those obtained using the standard-of-care blood pressure cuff. ..."

From the abstract:
"Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Existing methods for continuous, noninvasive blood pressure (BP) monitoring suffer from poor accuracy, uncomfortable form factors, or a need for frequent calibration, limiting their adoption. We introduce a new framework for continuous BP measurement that is noninvasive and calibration-free called resonance sonomanometry. The method uses ultrasound imaging to measure both the arterial dimensions and artery wall resonances that are induced by acoustic stimulation, which offers a direct measure of BP by a fully determined physical model. The approach and model are validated in vitro using arterial mock-ups and then in multiple arteries in human subjects. This approach offers the promise of robust continuous BP measurements, providing significant benefits for early diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease."

Caltech Team Develops First Noninvasive Method to Continually Measure True Blood Pressure - www.caltech.edu "Solving a decades-old problem, a multidisciplinary team of Caltech researchers has figured out a method to noninvasively and continually measure blood pressure anywhere on the body with next to no disruption to the patient. A device based on the new technique holds the promise to enable better vital-sign monitoring at home, in hospitals, and possibly even in remote locations where resources are limited."


Fig.  1 Acoustic stimulation paired with ultrasound imaging reveals resonance properties of an artery. a) Device placement to measure BP in the carotid artery
Two clumsy devices? This does not yet look very practical to me! More work needed?




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