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The road to Arteriograph
During the daily medical work, arterial function (stiffness) parameters were not available, due to the lack of adequate measuring option. The blood pressure measured on the upper arm (brachial blood pressure) and on the aorta (central blood pressure) are significantly different.
The pulse pressure wave generated by the left ventricle runs through the aorta and is reflected from the bifurcation. If the aortic wall is stiffened, the Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) parameter is elevated. Until the recent times the only way to get this data was the cardiac catheterization which is an invasive method. With the technical development, the first non-invasive solutions (the applanation tonometry and the piezoelectric method) appeared approximately 30 years ago. The application of these methods was rather complicated: it required a well-trained staff and the measurement took considerably long time. For these reasons, these solutions could not prevail in the clinical world.
The Tensiomed developer team had an opportunity to watch the signals on an oscilloscope during a digital oscillometric blood pressure measurement. It was surprising to see how complex and at the same time distinct signals can be observed at different pressure levels. From this moment, we were eager to find out why only the maximum amplitudes are used from the oscillometric readings to determine the blood pressure and what about the whole curve with all its details.
We were assuming that the oscillometric readings might be consisting direct information about the state of the arteries and the systemic circulation. It turned out that we identified a new discipline, the Arterial Stiffness which has been rarely studied (or not at all) so our mission was to develop the best and most reliable device, the Arteriograph, to measure the hemodynamic parameters.
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