Photoplethysmography system for blood pulsation detection in unloaded artery conditions

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is an optical method of blood pulsation recording and has been extensively studied for decades. Recently PPG is widely used in the medical equipment for patient monitoring and in laboratories for research and physiological studies. In spite of the technological progress in the field of medical equipment, there are no generally accepted standards for clinical PPG measurements up to date. One of the most important factors affecting PPG waveform is the contact pressure between tissue and PPG probe. The aim of the current study was to develop and evaluate a system for software-assisted PPG signal acquisition from the unloaded artery. Novel PPG waveform derived Optimal Pressure Parameter (OPP) has been proposed as the reliable indicator of unloaded artery condition. We affirm that PPG measurements provided in balanced transmural arterial pressure conditions might serve as a reference for the unification of contact manner optical plethysmography methods. It is a step forward towards the standardization of the PPG methodology, and showed that the maximal value of the OPP, obtained in the particular experimental trial, indicates the optimal PPG probe contact pressure at that moment. Our developed system has been validated in the experimental series and showed the possibility of determining the correct PPG contact pressure value with high repeatability. It is concluded that this system can provide the necessary feedback to perform reliable PPG signal acquisition from the unloaded conduit artery.