Using Resonance of Artery for Estimation of Arterial Elastic Modulus

Reference #:

2004-199

Inventors/Contributors

James F. Greenleaf, Ph.D., Randall R. Kinnick, Xiaoming Zhang, Ph.D.

Description

It has long been recognized that a high percentage of all cardiovascular disease is associated with a hardening or stiffening of the arteries or arteriosclerosis. Increased stiffness of the arteries has recently gained acceptance as a potential risk for cardiovascular and many other diseases. Pulse wave velocity in an artery is a standard technique for assessing the stiffness of the artery. Pulse wave velocity is directly related to the elastic modulus of the artery by the well known Moens-Korteweg equation. However, with the pulse wave velocity technique you need to measure the radius and thickness of the artery to calculate the elastic modulus of the artery. We invented a new technique to measure the resonant frequencies in the circumferential direction of an artery vessel, and use the resonant frequencies for estimating the arterial elastic modulus. One of the major advantages is that only the diameter of the artery is needed for estimation of the Young's modulus with the measured resonant frequencies.

Patent Status

None