Diagnosing CVD Using Non-invasive Measurement of Jugular Venous Pressure and Carotid Artery Pulse Waveforms

Evaluation of jugular venous pressure (JVP) waveforms and carotid artery waveforms (CAW) is important for diagnosing diseases related to the muscular chambers and valves of the heart. Numerous cardiac pathologies result in anomalous CAW or JVP waveforms, which can be observed as abnormal distensions of the skin on the neck due to pulsation of the underlying vessels. Despite the importance of measuring JVP and CAW, existing diagnostic methods require invasive catheterisation, expensive ultrasound devices, or are based on subjective, variable and potentially unreliable visual observations.

Our team's patent-protected methods are at the heart of a novel portable device that can detect skin deformations on the neck with unprecedented accuracy using multi-camera stereoscopy. This enables non-invasive measurement of skin deformations, due to dynamic jugular venous and carotid arterial pressure profiles. Analysis of these deformation waveforms can be used to detect a variety of cardiac pathologies, such as valve incompetence. Our device has the potential to be used as an early warning screening tool for cardiologists, general practitioners, and nurses to perform initial diagnoses for a range of heart diseases.

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