Comparing Remote Speckle Plethysmography and Finger-Clip Photoplethysmography with Non-Invasive Finger Arterial Pressure Pulse Waves, Regarding Morphology and Arrival Time.

OBJECTIVE

The goal was to compare Speckle plethysmography (SPG) and Photoplethysmography (PPG) with non-invasive finger Arterial Pressure (fiAP) regarding Pulse Wave Morphology (PWM) and Pulse Arrival Time (PAT).

METHODS

Healthy volunteers (n = 8) were connected to a Non-Invasive Blood Pressure (NIBP) monitor providing fiAP pulse wave and PPG from a clinical transmission-mode SpO finger clip. Biopac recorded 3-lead ECG. A camera placed at a 25 cm distance recorded a video stream (100 fps) of a finger illuminated by a laser diode at 639 nm. A chest belt (Polar) monitored respiration. All signals were recorded simultaneously during episodes of spontaneous breathing and paced breathing.

ANALYSIS

Post-processing was performed in Matlab to obtain SPG and analyze the SPG, PPG and fiAP mean absolute deviations (MADs) on PWM, plus PAT modulation.

RESULTS

Across 2599 beats, the average fiAP MAD with PPG was 0.17 (0-1) and with SPG 0.09 (0-1). PAT derived from ECG-fiAP correlated as follows: 0.65 for ECG-SPG and 0.67 for ECG-PPG.

CONCLUSION

Compared to the clinical NIBP monitor fiAP reference, PWM from an experimental camera-derived non-contact reflective-mode SPG setup resembled fiAP significantly better than PPG from a simultaneously recorded clinical transmission-mode finger clip. For PAT values, no significant difference was found between ECG-SPG and ECG-PPG compared to ECG-fiAP.