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Recent Advances on Unobtrusive Measurements of the Cardiovascular Function

Pinheiro, E.C. ; Postolache, O. ; Girão, P.M.

Recent Advances on Unobtrusive Measurements of the Cardiovascular Function, Proc International Conf. on Sensing Technology - ICST, Lecce, Italy, Vol. I, pp. 211 - 216, June, 2010.

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Abstract
To be able to unobtrusively assess the body’s cardiovascular and respiratory activity is a long-pursued ambition of utmost significance in patient healthcare. From the most monitored physiological signatures of nowadays, electrocardiography, oscillometric blood pressure, and pulse oximetry, a great deal of data is provided to the medical personnel. However, in spite of being non-invasive, these procedures are obtrusive, discomforting the patient potentially biasing the measurements’ results. With the technological developments and physiological knowledge increase, solutions based in ballistocardiography, contactless electrocardiography, photoplethysmography, tonometry, and others, have been emerging, or re-emerging, as reliable sources of data.
The latest advances obtained on the devices that unobtrusively evaluate the cardiovascular function are covered in the present review, highlighting their key features and novel concepts, and discussing the benefits and limitations of their application.