Approximate Entropy based ayurvedic pulse diagnosis for diabetics - a case study

In general, ayurvedic doctors used to examine the body by analyzing the wrist pulse of the patient. It is said that these pulse characteristics changes corresponding to the various changes in the body. For example, a tumour and a cyst will have different patterns in their pulse characteristics. Thus the wrist pulse signal is being used to analyze a person's health status. This reflects the pathologic changes of the person's body condition. Three different pulses can be located in single artery on the wrist, which will provide useful information regarding a person's health. In this project an attempt is being made to standardize the signals for normal conditions and then try to go for identifying the variation in pulse characteristics for simple abnormal conditions i.e., diabetic cases. The methodology planned is described in brief as follows: Suitable pulse sensor will be used along with necessary signal processing circuitry in order to acquire the pulse signals. Reference pulse signals will be acquired from a number of persons with normal health status. Reference signal will be subjected to a statistical analysis. Approximate Entropy, being a statistical measure is planned to be used as a quantity for the purpose of characterizing standard signals and abnormal signals. The expected deviation of the measured quantity from the reference standard quantity will be used for diagnosis.