Reflection wave analysis based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition

In recent studies, the reflection waveform analysis (RWA) in arterial blood pressure (ABP) is the important method for cardiovascular system assessment. But conventional RWA contains some limitations during several clinical experiments, such as the unrecognizable reflection waveform morphology during Valsalva maneuver (VM). This study proposed a new RWA based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), which extracted the intrinsic feature of ABP waveform, including reflection wave and trend of ABP. Furthermore, the reflection time (Tr) was computed by EEMD-based RWA and the results of agreement test showed that Tr can be estimated with unrecognizable reflection waveform. It helps for the cardiovascular system assessment during specific physiological challenges, such as VM. Moreover, it helps for cardiovascular auto-regulation studies for reflection wave monitoring by VM study.