Estimation of Arterial Viscosity Based on Oscillometric Method and Its Application to Vascular Endothelial Function Evaluation

Abstract

This paper proposes an estimation algorithm of the arterial viscosity using cuff pressures and cuff pulse waves measured from an automatic oscillometric sphygmomanometer. A change in the arterial viscosity %η during the enclosed zone flow-mediated dilation (ezFMD) test is calculated as an index for vascular endothelial function.The index %η was measured and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for the arterial viscosity change %η was performed in the experiment. The mean arterial viscosity change for the healthy subjects and that for the subjects at high-risk of arteriosclerosis were 13.4 ± 55.1 ％ and -32.7 ± 34.0 ％ (mean ± S.D., p < 0.05), respectively, and the area under the curve calculated from the ROC analysis was 0.77. It was thus concluded that the proposed method may evaluate vascular endothelial function.