Method for detecting the onset and relative degree of atherosclerosis in humans
First Claim
1. A method of detecting the onset of atherosclerosis comprising the steps of:
- changing blood flow through an artery with the application of differing amounts of induced pressure thereat;
sensing an arterial blood volume differential while said artery is placed under said differing amounts of induced pressure;
determining whether a function of said volume differential and said differing amounts of induced pressure defines a waveform peak; and
,generating an atherosclerosis indicator signal in the absence of said waveform peak.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for detecting the onset of atherosclerosis and for detecting the degree of atherosclerosis. Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention correlates data obtained from arteries having a measured amount of stenosis with actual arterial data (blood volume change vs. cuff pressure) obtained from a patient which is converted into data relating to the patient'"'"'s arterial peak compliance. Another aspect of the present invention detects the onset and the degree of atherosclerosis by classifying the shape of a curve obtained by relating arterial blood volume change with cuff pressure. Two devices can be used, an electrical impedance plethysmograph and a volume plethysmograph.
63 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of detecting the onset of atherosclerosis comprising the steps of:
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changing blood flow through an artery with the application of differing amounts of induced pressure thereat; sensing an arterial blood volume differential while said artery is placed under said differing amounts of induced pressure; determining whether a function of said volume differential and said differing amounts of induced pressure defines a waveform peak; and
,generating an atherosclerosis indicator signal in the absence of said waveform peak. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of detecting the degree of atherosclerosis in an artery comprising the steps of:
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changing blood flow through an artery with the application of differing amounts of induced pressure thereat; sensing an arterial blood volume differential while said artery is placed under said differing amounts of induced pressure; relating said volume differential to said differing amounts of induced pressure; correlating the volume differential-induced pressure relationship with one of a plurality of predetermined waveform shapes; and
,generating one of a plurality of atherosclerosis indicator signals based upon the waveform correlation wherein each indicator signal indicates a different degree of atherosclerosis. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-invasive method of detecting the relative degree of atherosclerosis in a patient comprising the steps of:
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changing blood flow through an artery by placing relatively discrete levels of pressure on a portion of said artery; non-invasively sensing blood volume as an impedance pulse in said artery at various induced pressure levels and generating an impedance pulse signal representative thereof, and obtaining a representative signal of a tissue impedance near said artery; calculating an arterial blood volume differential from said impedance pulse signal and the tissue impedance signal; sensing and calculating a blood pressure differential of the patient; obtaining a peak compliance value by determining a maximal ratio of the blood volume differential and blood pressure differential by repeatedly obtaining the arterial blood volume differential at different induced levels of arterial pressures; providing a target value related to at least one of a chronological age and an average systolic blood pressure for an age group about the age of said patient, said target value being based upon a quantitative analysis of arteries possessing different degrees of atherosclerosis; determining and indicating the relative degree of atherosclerosis by comparing said target value with a patient specific value that is computed using a predetermined correlation incorporating said peak compliance value and at least one characteristic value from the group consisting of a detected systolic pressure, a detected diastolic pressure, an ascertained cholesterol level and the patient'"'"'s chronological age, all obtained from said patient.
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18. A non-invasive method of detecting atherosclerosis of a patient comprising the steps of:
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changing blood flow through an artery with the application of discrete levels of induced pressure thereat; obtaining an arterial blood volume differential by non-invasively sensing pulsatile blood flow through said artery while said artery is placed under said discrete levels of induced pressure; sensing and calculating a pressure differential of the pulsatile blood flow passing through an arterial system that includes said artery; obtaining a peak compliance value by determining a maximal ratio of the blood volume differential and the pressure differential; providing a target value for said patient, said target value calculated using a first predetermined correlation incorporating at least the patient'"'"'s chronological age factor and a tissue volume factor characteristic of said patient, said first predetermined correlation derived from a quantitative analysis of arteries possessing different degrees of atherosclerosis; calculating and indicating the relative degree of atherosclerosis by comparing said target value with a patient specific value that is computed using a second predetermined correlation with said compliance value and at least one characteristic value from the group consisting of a detected systolic pressure, a detected diastolic pressure, an ascertained cholesterol level and the patient'"'"'s chronological age, all obtained from said patient.
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19. A method of detecting the degree of atherosclerosis of a patient under study comprising the steps of:
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changing blood flow through an artery with the application of discrete levels of induced pressure thereat; obtaining an arterial blood volume differential from said artery while said artery is placed under said discrete levels of induced pressure; obtaining the patient'"'"'s blood pressure differential; calculating an peak arterial compliance value by selecting the maximal ratio of said volume differential and said pressure differential; providing a target value for said patient using a first predetermined correlation incorporating the patient'"'"'s chronological age factor and the patient'"'"'s tissue volume factor, said first predetermined correlation derived from a quantitative analysis of arteries possessing different degrees of atherosclerosis; determining and indicating the relative degree of atherosclerosis by comparing said target value with a patient specific value that is computed using a second predetermined correlation incorporating said peak compliance value and at least one characteristic value from the group consisting of a detected systolic pressure, a detected diastolic pressure, an ascertained cholesterol level and the patient'"'"'s chronological age, all obtained from said patient. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification