A SYSTEM FOR MONITORING THE RADIAL PULSE - APPLICATION TO PULSE TRANSIT-TIME MEASUREMENT

A transducer and circuit for continuous monitoring of the radial pulse are described. The wrist transducer is small, robust and easily constructed. The system responds mechanically to surface movement caused by the arterial pulse, and converts the motion photoelectrically to a signal suitable for AC amplification and input to a chart recorder. Output closely follows the shape of the intraarterial pressure pulse. A computer algorithm is described for beat-to-beat calculation of pulse transit time from an ECG R-wave reference.