MOSCOW, October 9A technique developed by scientists from Samara University will help assess the elasticity of blood vessels based on the patient’s heart and pulse rhythm. According to the researchers, it will be useful in the early diagnosis of atherosclerosis and the prevention of heart disease. The results were published in Biomedical Engineering.
The human circulatory system has a number of characteristics that are important to control to maintain health. One of the key parameters is the elasticity of blood vessels. The tougher their walls, the more sensitive a person is to pressure surges, and also the more susceptible to serious diseases — atherosclerosis, heart failure, heart attack and stroke.
According to university experts, currently for evaluation elasticity of the patient's blood vessels, various instrumental methods based on ultrasound and X-ray diagnostic systems are used. This requires special expensive equipment and the assistance of qualified medical personnel.
Scientists from Samara National Research University named after academician S.P. Korolev (Samara University) proposed a simpler assessment method based on the analysis of differences in the patient’s heart and pulse rhythm.
“Periodic fluctuations in blood pressure caused by the so-called Mayer waves can lead to changes in the elasticity of arterial vessels, which causes additional variability in heart rate. It is this difference that is a marker of the ability of the vessel walls to stretch,” said Associate Professor of the Department of Laser and Biotechnical Systems Samara University Alexander Fedotov.
The researcher explained that the introduction of a relatively simple technique for non-invasive assessment of the elasticity of human arterial vessels will improve the efficiency of early diagnosis of atherosclerosis and prevent the occurrence of myocardial infarction.
«According to the results of processing the medical data provided to us, it turned out that in people with implanted pacemakers (pacers), whose heart rate was simultaneously recorded (hard set by the ECS) and pulse rhythm, these rhythms were not the same, and the differences between them were statistically significant,” Fedotov said.
In the future, the researchers plan to draw the attention of physiologists to the discovered patterns in order to search for theoretical justifications and expansion ideas about the peculiarities of the functioning of the human cardiovascular system.
Samara University is a participant in the state support program for universities of the Russian Federation «Priority-2030» of the national project «Science and Universities».