Medizinische Universität Graz - Research portal
Selected Publication:
Schüttengruber, PC.
Oscillometric blood pressure measurement with a stepper motor driven piston pump.
[ Diplomarbeit/Master Thesis (UNI) ] TU Graz; 2024. pp.78.
FullText
- Authors Med Uni Graz:
- Advisor:
- Ropele Stefan
- Altmetrics:
- Abstract:
- An indicator of cerebrovascular diseases is the compliance of blood vessels in the brain with a diameter less than 200 µm. It is not possible to observe these vessels by conventional magnetic resonance imaging, but cerebrovascular compliance mapping is a new method to achieve this. Therefore, a continuous measurement of the mean arterial pressure is necessary during the scanning process, alongside a way to alter the blood pressure. A stressor that induces a blood pressure change has already been developed, but no device currently available on the market can fulfil the necessary requirements for measuring the mean arterial pressure fast enough and inside a magnetic resonance scanner. Consequently, a new oscillometric blood pressure measurement apparatus was developed that utilizes a piston pump and a long tube. The piston pump enables the measurement during inflation as well, thus allowing the mean arterial pressure to be tracked. The long tube allows the ferromagnetic material containing device to be positioned outside the critical range of the scanner. An electronic circuit was constructed to control the pneumatic system and a BMC data acquisition board was employed to gather the data. A C# program was developed to guide and process the measurement. A stable, real-time algorithm minimizes the required duration of acquiring the mean arterial pressure while still being able to track the changes. A standard oscillometric apparatus was employed to validate the accuracy of the new instrument. The new device is capable of measuring the mean arterial pressure approximately every 14 seconds with a pressure alteration velocity of 3 mmHg/s. This velocity can be increased, which would result in a further decrease in measurement time at the cost of accuracy. The proposed device can be used directly in the MR scanner for the determination of the cerebrovascular compliance.