Pulse wave velocity for cardiovascular characterization

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) provides a robust metric for cardiovascular health that can readily be measured non-intrusively. This paper describes efforts to develop a methodology for rapid, portable, cost effective measurement of pulse wave velocity utilizing only an electrocardiogram (EGG), continuous wave (CW) Doppler, and a computer based data acquisition board. Preliminary results showed that the pulse wave velocity from the aortic root to the radial artery could be deduced with access only to distal portions of the upper extremities, thus minimizing the subject's inconvenience, and making the measurement very suitable for screening applications. In the pilot study reported here, aortic-radial pulse wave transit time was found to be 294.2 ms averaged over 9 pulses with the standard error of the sample mean=9.22 ms. The pulse wave velocity was 217.5 cm/s with standard error of the sample mean=7.07 cm/s.