🔎Camera measures blood pressure with Quick Look🔎

Camera measures blood pressure with Quick Look

Researchers at the University of South Australia have developed a system that allows them to measure a patient's blood pressure using a camera. 

The camera visualizes the patient's forehead and focuses on two specific areas to detect optically photoplethysmographic signals, which artificial intelligence algorithms will then convert into blood pressure data. 

The researchers tested their system on 25 volunteers, and now its accuracy is about 90% higher than traditional blood pressure measurements using a cuff. 

The system can provide non-contact measurements in just ten seconds and can be very useful for large medical monitors or in situations where a minimum contact is better for safety, such as during a pandemic.

Blood pressure is a key health indicator, but our method of measuring it can be somewhat unwieldy. 

Air cuffs can be uncomfortable to use. If we could develop a non-invasive and quick alternative, it could save all the trouble, especially in cases where it is desirable to reduce contact between patients and medical staff, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Blood pressure monitoring is essential for detecting and treating cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of global mortality, which caused nearly 18 million deaths in 2019," said Jawan Chal, a researcher involved in the development. 

"In addition, over the past 30 years, the number of adults with hypertension has increased from 650 million to 1.28 billion worldwide. 

The health sector needs a system that can accurately measure blood pressure and assess cardiovascular risks when physical contact with patients is unsafe or difficult, such as during the recent COVID outbreak. 

If we can improve this methodology, it will help to solve one of the most serious health problems facing the world today."

The team working on this technology has developed similar systems in the past, including image processing algorithms that can determine a person's heart rate from images taken by drones and other algorithms that can measure a variety of important parameters on newborns, including respiratory rate, jaundice, oxygen saturation and temperature.

Source: MedGadget