CALIBRATED MEASUREMENT OF BLOOD VESSELS AND ENDOTHELIUM AFTER REACTIVE HYPEREMIA AND METHOD THEREFOR

摘要

The calibrated method for characterizing blood flow in a limb of a patientduring reactive hyperemia utilizes a blood pressure cuff (14). The methodestablishes a predetermined, near diastolic, pressure in the blood pressurecuff (14) during the reactive hyperemic episode, continually senses via asensor (68) the pressure in the cuff, and periodically changes the internalvolume of the blood pressure cuff by a predetermined volumetric amount tocalibrate the system. The resultant change in the pressure is a calibrationpressure pulse (P-cal), and is used to calculate pulsatile blood volumethrough the blood vessel. A calibrated method for determining the condition ofblood vessels, and endothelium includes determining, for each calibrationcycle, a respective peak value (t-P) for the blood volume, and comparing thepeak blood volume values with peak blood volume values for healthy bloodvessels, and endothelium. The comparison preferably utlizes a waveform (W1).