Relation between blood pressure and pulse wave velocity for human arteries

Yinji Ma, Jungil Choi, Aurélie Hourlier-Fargette, Yeguang Xue, Ha Uk Chung, Jong Yoon Lee, Xiufeng Wang, Zhaoqian Xie, Daeshik Kang, Heling Wang, Seungyong Han, Seung-Kyun Kang, Yisak Kang, Xinge Yu, Marvin J. Slepian, Milan S. Raj, Jeffrey B. Model, Xue Feng, Roozbeh Ghaffari, John A. Rogers, and Yonggang Huang
PNAS October 30, 2018 115 (44) 11144-11149; first published October 15, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814392115

  1. Contributed by John A. Rogers, September 10, 2018 (sent for review August 21, 2018; reviewed by Markus J. Buehler and Pradeep Sharma)

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Significance

Continuous, cuffless, and noninvasive blood pressure monitoring by measuring the pulse wave velocity is generally considered to be a promising technique for noninvasive measurements. Previously reported relations between blood pressure and pulse wave velocity relation involve unrealistic assumptions that do not hold for human arteries, and also rely on empirical expressions without any theoretical basis. Here, an analytical model without such assumptions or empirical expressions is established to yield a relation between blood pressure and pulse wave velocity that has general utility for future work in continuous, cuffless, and noninvasive blood pressure monitoring.

Abstract

Continuous monitoring of blood pressure, an essential measure of health status, typically requires complex, costly, and invasive techniques that can expose patients to risks of complications. Continuous, cuffless, and noninvasive blood pressure monitoring methods that correlate measured pulse wave velocity (PWV) to the blood pressure via the Moens−Korteweg (MK) and Hughes Equations, offer promising alternatives. The MK Equation, however, involves two assumptions that do not hold for human arteries, and the Hughes Equation is empirical, without any theoretical basis. The results presented here establish a relation between the blood pressure P and PWV that does not rely on the Hughes Equation nor on the assumptions used in the MK Equation. This relation degenerates to the MK Equation under extremely low blood pressures, and it accurately captures the results of in vitro experiments using artificial blood vessels at comparatively high pressures. For human arteries, which are well characterized by the Fung hyperelastic model, a simple formula between P and PWV is established within the range of human blood pressures. This formula is validated by literature data as well as by experiments on human subjects, with applicability in the determination of blood pressure from PWV in continuous, cuffless, and noninvasive blood pressure monitoring systems.

Footnotes

  • ↵1Y.M. and J.C. contributed equally to this work.

  • ↵2To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: jrogers{at}northwestern.edu or y-huang{at}northwestern.edu.

  • Author contributions: Y.M., Z.X., and J.A.R. designed research; Y.M., J.C., A.H.-F., and Z.X. performed research; Y.M. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; Y.M., J.C., A.H.-F., Y.X., H.U.C., J.Y.L., Z.X., D.K., H.W., S.H., S.-K.K., Y.K., X.Y., M.J.S., M.S.R., J.B.M., X.F., R.G., and Y.H. analyzed data; and Y.M., J.C., X.W., R.G., J.A.R., and Y.H. wrote the paper.

  • Reviewers: M.J.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and P.S., University of Houston.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1814392115/-/DCSupplemental.

Published under the PNAS license.

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Relation between blood pressure and pulse wave velocity for human arteries
Yinji Ma, Jungil Choi, Aurélie Hourlier-Fargette, Yeguang Xue, Ha Uk Chung, Jong Yoon Lee, Xiufeng Wang, Zhaoqian Xie, Daeshik Kang, Heling Wang, Seungyong Han, Seung-Kyun Kang, Yisak Kang, Xinge Yu, Marvin J. Slepian, Milan S. Raj, Jeffrey B. Model, Xue Feng, Roozbeh Ghaffari, John A. Rogers, Yonggang Huang
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct 2018, 115 (44) 11144-11149; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1814392115
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 116 (16)
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