Non-invasive method and apparatus for diagnosing and monitoring aortic valve abnormalities, such a aortic regurgitation

摘要

A method and device is provided for determining aortic valve abnormalities. The method first includes the step of providing a sphygmomanometer device for inducing a pressure on a body part of a patient. A data stream receiver is provided for receiving a stream of data relating to the pressure response of the pulsed fluid flowing through the cardiovascular system of the patient. A data processor is provided for processing the data to create a series of time dependant pulse wave forms. The data can be converted by Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) to obtain Power Spectrum (PS) which comprises a frequency dependant array of pulse signals. Both of the time dependant and frequency dependant (Power Spectrum) data can be displayed and analyzed to help determine the condition of the aortic valve and the percentage of regurgitation of the patient. With the Power Spectrum display, the determination is made based on first, identifying the existence of an additional second series of harmonically occurring regurgitation signals that have a frequency different from the main signals indicative of the forward flow of fluid through the aortic valve. The ratio of the amplitude or density of the regurgitation signal peak can be divided by the amplitude or density of the associated main signal peak, to determine the ratio of the associated "Regurgitation" flow to and "Main" flow, to thereby semi-quantitatively determine the percent of regurgitation flow of the patient.