Image-free ultrasound for local and regional vascular stiffness assessment: the ARTSENS Plus

Abstract

Objective: The combined assessment of vascular health markers is crucial for identifying the cumulative burden of vascular risk factors early on, as well as the extent of vascular aging for effective prediction of future cardiovascular events. This work addresses the need for a currently nonexistent device or system that facilitates such combined assessment in clinical practice and large-scale screening settings. We report an image-free ultrasound device -ARTSENS Plus -developed for the measurement of local and regional arterial stiffness, central and peripheral blood pressure (BP), and vessel dimensions, all in one examination.Methods: A preclinical study on 90 asymptomatic individuals verified the device's functionality under ARTERY Society guidelines. The device's accuracy of stiffness measures was validated against the reference measures. Results:The interoperator and intraoperator variability was less than 7%. Carotid artery's lumen diameter and local stiffness indices and carotid-femoral regional pulse wave velocity showed excellent agreement with the references (absolute errors were less than 4.1, 9, and 4.1%, respectively). The carotid SBP was 10.02% lower than that of the brachial artery, as expected. Conclusion:The study demonstrated the device's ability to perform an effortless and reliable evaluation of the local and regional vascular stiffness and central BP with an accuracy that meets clinical standards.

Central and local arterial stiffness in White Europeans compared to age-, sex-, and BMI-matched South Asians

“…Strengths of our study are the use of the same validated device to assess central and local arterial stiffness in both cohorts [ 37 , 38 ], the inclusion of a large group of participants, and the inclusion of participants residing in the country of their ethnic origin. However, some limitations are present.…”

“…The measurement was completed after capturing ten synchronously-measured high-quality carotid artery distension cycles and femoral artery pressure waveforms. The pulse transit time was defined as the time delay between the feet of the carotid and femoral artery waveforms and was averaged over the ten cycles [ 38 ].…”

“…Arterial stiffness measurements were performed with ARTSENS1 Plus (Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India), a recently developed and validated, noninvasive, image-free ultrasound device to assess central and local arterial stiffness [36][37][38]. The ARTSENS1 Plus uses a single-element ultrasound probe and a femoral pressure cuff for the simultaneous recording of carotid diameter and femoral pressure pulse waveforms, from which real-time arterial stiffness parameters are evaluated.…”

Vascular Aging: Assessment and Intervention

“…78,79 More than a dozen of published articles have claimed the advantages of ARTSENS in clinical applications, including its portability, high-throughput, and efficiency in evaluating vascular wall and stiffness, but a large cohort-based clinical trial has yet to yield any conclusive results. [80][81][82][83] Vascular functional changes are listed in Table 2.…”

Theoretical investigations on a variable-coefficient generalized forced–perturbed Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers model for a dilated artery, blood vessel or circulatory system with experimental support

“…Nonlinear waves are physically and currently interesting [1][2][3]. Physical studies on the pulse waves in the human arteries have started from the ancient times until the present, while recent theoretical efforts have been focused on the probes for nonlinear pulse waves in the variable-radius arteries [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”