Estimation of Arterial Stiffness through Pulse Transit Time Measurement

Abstract

Early detection of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its treatment is significantly expected to reduce the mortality rate across the world. While several diagnostic techniques have been developed for early detection of the CVD, recent focus has been on measuring the ‘arterial stiffness’, which appears to be a major indicator of onset of cardio vascular disease. In this work, authors consider three mathematical models that relate pulse wave velocity (PWV) with arterial stiffness. While one model considers blood to be a non-viscous and incompressible fluid, the other considers it to be a viscous and compressible. Pulse transit time has been measured experimentally for five different individuals of different ages and heights from where PWV has been estimated. Using values of PWV, Young’s modulus of elasticity has been derived. Data related to arteries such as radius, wall thickness, density and viscosity of blood have been taken from published literature where these parameters have been measured using techniques such as MRI. Initial results indicate that different models predict different estimates for arterial stiffness that depend on assumptions made.