Background: Arterial pressure waveforms contain important diagnostic and physiological information since their contour depends on a healthy cardiovascular system 1. A sensor was placed at the measured artery and some contact pressure was used to measure the pressure waveform. However, where is the location of the sensor just about enough to detect a complete pressure waveform for the diagnosis? How much contact pressure is needed over the pulse point? These two problems still remain unresolved.
Method: In this study, we propose a quantitative analysis to evaluate the pressure waveform for locating the position and applying the appropriate force between the sensor and the radial artery. The two-axis mechanism and the modified sensor have been designed to estimate the radial arterial width and detect the contact pressure. The template matching method was used to analyze the pressure waveform. In the X-axis scan, we found that the arterial diameter changed waveform (ADCW) and the pressure waveform would change from small to large and then back to small again when the sensor was moved across the radial artery. In the Z-axis scan, we also found that the ADCW and the pressure waveform would change from small to large and then back to small again when the applied contact pressure continuously increased.
Results: In the X-axis scan, the template correlation coefficients of the left and right boundaries of the radial arterial width were 0.987 +/- 0.016 and 0.978 +/- 0.028, respectively. In the Z-axis scan, when the excessive contact pressure was more than 100 mm Hg, the template correlation was below 0.983. In applying force, when using the maximum amplitude as the criteria level, the lower contact pressure (r = 0.988 +/- 0.004) was better than the higher contact pressure (r = 0.976 +/- 0.012).
Conclusions: Although, the optimal detective position has to be close to the middle of the radial arterial, the pressure waveform also has a good completeness with a template correlation coefficient of above 0.99 when the position was within +/- 1 mm of the middle of the radial arterial range. In applying force, using the maximum amplitude as the criteria level, the lower contact pressure was better than the higher contact pressure.