TITLE:
Noncontact Monitoring of Relative Changes in Blood Pressure Using Microwave Radar Sensors
AUTHORS:
Satoshi Suzuki, Guanghao Sun, Masaaki Hoshiga, Kentaro Kotani, Takafumi Asao
KEYWORDS:
Microwave Radar, Noncontact Monitoring, Blood Pressure, Relative Change, Continuous Monitor
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering,
Vol.15 No.1,
January
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: This study aims to confirm whether noncontact monitoring of relative changes in blood pressure can be estimated using microwave radar sensors. First, an equation to estimate blood pressure was derived, after which, the effectiveness of the estimation equation was confirmed using data obtained by a noncontact method while inducing variations in blood pressure. We considered that the Bramwell-Hill equation, which contains some parameters that directly indicate changes in blood pressure, would be an appropriate reference to construct an estimation equation for the noncontact method, because measurements using microwave radar sensors can measure minute scale motion on the skin surface induced by the pulsation of blood vessels. In order to estimate relative changes in blood pressure, we considered a simple equation including the pulse transit time (PTT), amplitude of signals and body dimensions as parameters. To verify the effectiveness of the equation for estimating changes in blood pressure, two experiments were conducted: a cycling task using an ergometer, which induces blood pressure fluctuations because of changes in cardiac output, and a task using the Valsalva maneuver, which induces blood pressure fluctuations because of changes in vascular resistance. The results obtained from the two experiments suggested that the proposed equation using microwave radar sensors can accurately estimate relative changes of blood pressure. In particular, relatively favorable results were obtained for the changes in blood pressure induced by the changes in cardiac volume. Although many issues remain, this method could be expected to contribute to the continuous evaluation of cardiac function while reducing the burden on patients.