Method and apparatus for detecting the onset and relative degree of atherosclerosis in humans

Claim 1

An apparatus for detecting the onset of atherosclerosis comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery with the application of differing amounts of induced pressure thereat; means for sensing an arterial blood volume differential while said artery is placed under said differing amounts of induced pressure and generating a representative signal; means for determining whether a function of said volume differential representative signal at said differing amounts of induced pressure defines a waveform peak; and, means, coupled to said means for determining, for generating an atherosclerosis indicator signal in the absence of said waveform peak.

Claim 2

An apparatus for detecting the onset of atherosclerosis comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery with the application of differing amounts of induced pressure thereat; means for sensing an arterial blood volume differential while said artery is placed under said differing amounts of induced pressure and generating a representative signal; means for determining whether a function of said volume differential representative signal at said differing amounts of induced pressure defines a waveform peak; and, means, coupled to said means for determining, for generating an atherosclerosis indicator signal in the absence of said waveform peak.

Claim 9

An apparatus for detecting the degree of atherosclerosis in an artery comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery with the application of differing amounts of induced pressure thereat; means for sensing an arterial blood volume differential while said artery is placed under said differing amounts of induced pressure and generating representative data; means for relating said volume differential representative data to data representing said differing amounts of induced pressure; means, coupled to said means for relating, for correlating the volume differential-induced pressure relationship with one of a plurality of predetermined waveform shapes; and, means for generating one of a plurality of atherosclerosis indicator signals based upon the waveform correlation wherein each indicator signal indicates a different degree of atherosclerosis.

Claim 10

An apparatus for detecting the degree of atherosclerosis in an artery comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery with the application of differing amounts of induced pressure thereat; means for sensing an arterial blood volume differential while said artery is placed under said differing amounts of induced pressure and generating representative data; means for relating said volume differential representative data to data representing said differing amounts of induced pressure; means, coupled to said means for relating, for correlating the volume differential-induced pressure relationship with one of a plurality of predetermined waveform shapes; and, means for generating one of a plurality of atherosclerosis indicator signals based upon the waveform correlation wherein each indicator signal indicates a different degree of atherosclerosis.

Claim 14

An apparatus for non-invasively detecting the relative degree of atherosclerosis in a patient comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery by placing relatively discrete levels of pressure on a portion of said artery; means for non-invasively sensing blood volume as an impedance pulse in said artery at various induced pressure levels and generating an impedance pulse signal representative thereof, and obtaining a representative signal of a tissue impedance near said artery; means for calculating an arterial blood volume differential from said impedance pulse signal and the tissue impedance signal; means for sensing and calculating a blood pressure differential of the patient; means for obtaining a peak compliance value by determining a maximal ratio of the blood volume differential and blood pressure differential by repeatedly obtaining the arterial blood volume differential at different induced levels of arterial pressures; means for providing a target value related to at least one factor of factors from the group consisting of a chronological age of said patient, said representative signal of said tissue impedance, said target value being based upon a quantitative analysis of arteries possessing different degrees of atherosclerosis; means for determining and indicating the relative degree of atherosclerosis by comparing said target value with a patient specific value that is computed using a predetermined correlation incorporating said peak compliance value and at least one characteristic value from the group consisting of a detected systolic pressure, a detected diastolic pressure, an ascertained cholesterol level and the patient's chronological age, all obtained from said patient.

Claim 15

An apparatus for non-invasively detecting the relative degree of atherosclerosis in a patient comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery by placing relatively discrete levels of pressure on a portion of said artery; means for non-invasively sensing blood volume as an impedance pulse in said artery at various induced pressure levels and generating an impedance pulse signal representative thereof, and obtaining a representative signal of a tissue impedance near said artery; means for calculating an arterial blood volume differential from said impedance pulse signal and the tissue impedance signal; means for sensing and calculating a blood pressure differential of the patient; means for obtaining a peak compliance value by determining a maximal ratio of the blood volume differential and blood pressure differential by repeatedly obtaining the arterial blood volume differential at different induced levels of arterial pressures; means for providing a target value related to at least one factor of factors from the group consisting of a chronological age of said patient, said representative signal of said tissue impedance, said target value being based upon a quantitative analysis of arteries possessing different degrees of atherosclerosis; means for determining and indicating the relative degree of atherosclerosis by comparing said target value with a patient specific value that is computed using a predetermined correlation incorporating said peak compliance value and at least one characteristic value from the group consisting of a detected systolic pressure, a detected diastolic pressure, an ascertained cholesterol level and the patient's chronological age, all obtained from said patient.

Claim 22

An apparatus for detecting the degree of atherosclerosis of a patient under study comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery with the application of discrete levels of induced pressure thereat; means for obtaining an arterial blood volume differential from said artery while said artery is placed under said discrete levels of induced pressure; means for obtaining the patient's blood pressure differential from said artery while said artery is placed under said discrete levels of induced pressure; means for calculating a peak arterial compliance value by selecting the maximal ratio of said volume differential and said pressure differential; means for providing a target value for said patient using a first predetermined correlation incorporating at least one from the group consisting of a patient's chronological age factor, a patient's tissue factor, a diastolic pressure, a systolic pressure, and a cholesterol level, said first predetermined correlation derived from a quantitative analysis of arteries possessing different degrees of atherosclerosis; means for determining and indicating the relative degree of atherosclerosis by comparing said target value with a patient specific value from a second predetermined correlation incorporating said peak compliance value and at least one characteristic value from the group consisting of a detected systolic pressure, a detected diastolic pressure, an ascertained cholesterol level and the patient's chronological age, all obtained from said patient.

Claim 23

An apparatus for detecting the degree of atherosclerosis of a patient under study comprising: means for changing blood flow through an artery with the application of discrete levels of induced pressure thereat; means for obtaining an arterial blood volume differential from said artery while said artery is placed under said discrete levels of induced pressure; means for obtaining the patient's blood pressure differential from said artery while said artery is placed under said discrete levels of induced pressure; means for calculating a peak arterial compliance value by selecting the maximal ratio of said volume differential and said pressure differential; means for providing a target value for said patient using a first predetermined correlation incorporating at least one from the group consisting of a patient's chronological age factor, a patient's tissue factor, a diastolic pressure, a systolic pressure, and a cholesterol level, said first predetermined correlation derived from a quantitative analysis of arteries possessing different degrees of atherosclerosis; means for determining and indicating the relative degree of atherosclerosis by comparing said target value with a patient specific value from a second predetermined correlation incorporating said peak compliance value and at least one characteristic value from the group consisting of a detected systolic pressure, a detected diastolic pressure, an ascertained cholesterol level and the patient's chronological age, all obtained from said patient.