Compensation for tonometer sensor crosstalk and element spacing
First Claim
1. A method for compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining a measured artery pressure profile of a superficial artery;
using at least one characteristic of said measured artery pressure profile to determine an error correction factor;
determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; and
calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining and compensating for the crosstalk behavior and element spacing of an arterial tonometer sensor in order to obtain a more accurate blood pressure measurement. The crosstalk behavior and the effects of element spacing in a tonometer sensor having a plurality of sensing elements located on a single diaphragm is derived using advanced modeling techniques. An error correction factor look-up table is computed and applied to an uncorrected blood pressure measurement, resulting in increased accuracy.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method for compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining a measured artery pressure profile of a superficial artery; using at least one characteristic of said measured artery pressure profile to determine an error correction factor; determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; and calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9)
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8. A method for compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining a measured artery pressure profile of a superficial artery; using at least one characteristic of said measured artery pressure profile to retrieve an error correction factor from a precomputed error correction factor look-up table; determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; and calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A method for compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining an apparent artery width Wa of a subject artery; determining a dip depth D for said artery; using said apparent artery width Wa and dip depth D to determine an error correction factor; determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; and calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
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locating a sensing element that measures a maximum pulse amplitude corresponding to blood pressure pulses in a subject artery; locating a spatial local minimum of pressures measured by said sensing elements near to the sensing element measuring said maximum pulse amplitude; locating left and right spatial local maximums of the pressures measured by the sensing elements which are indicative of the left and right edges, respectively, of said artery; calculating a dip depth D as the average of respective differences between said left and right local maximums of pressure and said spatial local minimum of pressure; calculating an apparent artery width Wa as the distance between the locations of said left and right local maximums of pressure; using said calculated dip depth D and apparent artery width Wa to retrieve an error correction factor from a precomputed error correction factor look-up table; determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; and calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
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locating a sensing element that measures a maximum pulse amplitude corresponding to blood pressure pulses in a subject artery; locating a spatial local minimum of pressures measured by the sensing elements near to the sensing element measuring said maximum pulse amplitude; identifying left and right locations on said at least one diaphragm at which a measured pulse amplitude is a predetermined fraction of said maximum pulse amplitude and which lie right and left, respectively, of said sensing element measuring said maximum pulse amplitude, said left and right locations being indicative of the left and right edges, respectively, of said artery; calculating a dip depth D as the average of respective differences between the pressures at said left and right locations and said spatial local minimum of pressure; calculating an apparent artery width Wa as the distance between said left and right locations; using said calculated dip depth D and apparent artery width Wa to retrieve an error correction factor from a precomputed error correction factor look-up table; determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; and calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. An apparatus for externally measuring blood pressure in an artery, said apparatus comprising:
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arterial tonometer instrument means, including a sensor having a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, for determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; means for determining a measured artery pressure profile of said artery; means for using at least one characteristic of said measured artery pressure profile to determine an error correction factor; and means for calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value.
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28. An apparatus for externally measuring blood pressure in an artery, said apparatus comprising:
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arterial tonometer instrument means, including a sensor having a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, for determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; means for determining an apparent artery width Wa of said artery; means for determining a dip depth D for said artery; means for using said apparent artery width Wa and dip depth D to determine an error correction factor; and means for calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value.
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29. An arterial tonometer instrument, including a sensor having a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, for externally measuring blood pressure in an artery, comprising:
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means for locating a sensing element that measures a maximum pulse amplitude corresponding to blood pressure pulses in said artery; means for locating a spatial local minimum of pressure measured by the plurality of pressure sensing elements near to the sensing element measuring said maximum pulse amplitude; means for locating left and right local maximums of pressure measured by the sensing elements which are indicative of the left and right edges, respectively, of said artery; means for determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; means for calculating a dip depth D as the average of respective differences between said left and right local maximums of pressure and said spatial local minimum of pressure; means for calculating an apparent artery width Wa as the distance between the locations of said left and right local maximums of pressure; means for using said calculated dip depth D and apparent artery width Wa to retrieve an error correction factor from a precomputed error correction factor look-up table; and means for calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value.
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30. An arterial tonometer instrument, including a sensor having a plurality of pressure sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, for externally measuring blood pressure in an artery, comprising:
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means for locating a sensing element that measures a maximum pulse amplitude corresponding to blood pressure pulses in said artery; means for locating a spatial local minimum of pressure measured by said plurality of pressure sensing elements near to the sensing element measuring said maximum pulse amplitude; means for identifying left and right locations on said at least one diaphragm at which a measured pulse amplitude is a predetermined fraction of said maximum pulse amplitude, said left and right locations being indicative of the left and right edges, respectively, of said artery; means for determining an uncorrected blood pressure value; means for calculating a dip depth D as the average of respective differences between measured pressures at said left and right locations and said spatial local minimum of pressure; means for calculating an apparent artery width Wa as the distance between said left and right locations; means for using said calculated dip depth D and apparent artery width Wa to retrieve an error correction factor from a precomputed error look-up table; and means for calculating a corrected blood pressure value by applying said error correction factor to said uncorrected blood pressure value.
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31. A method for constructing an error correction factor look-up table for use in compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
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modeling at least one of said sensor and said diaphragm; using the results of said modeling to obtain responses of at least one of said sensor and said diaphragm to typical artery pressure profiles measured by a tonometer sensor placed over a superficial artery; using said responses to estimate errors in blood pressure measurements for said typical artery pressure profiles; and calculating error correction factors necessary to compensate for said errors. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for constructing an error correction factor look-up table for use in compensating for crosstalk behavior and element spacing of the sensor of an arterial tonometer instrument, which sensor has a plurality of sensing elements disposed on at least one diaphragm, the method comprising the steps of:
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analytically modeling said diaphragm as a plate, rigidly-clamped at four edges, of predetermined length and width which is subjected to a strip of pressure of predetermined width and magnitude that is symmetrically oriented about the minor axis of said plate; using the results of said analytical modeling to obtain, by superposition of solutions for several strips of pressure of varying widths and magnitudes, responses of said diaphragm to typical artery pressure profiles measured by a tonometer sensor placed over a superficial artery; using said responses to estimate errors in blood pressure measurements for said typical artery pressure profiles; and calculating error correction factors necessary to compensate for said errors. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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Specification