Automatic Recognition of the Onset Point in the Arterial Pulse Wave

In this paper, a mathematical method based in triangle areas computation, useful for automatic location of the onset point in the arterial pulse wave, is presented. The method was evaluated against “by eyes” expert determination, using 40 records of one minute length and different signal-to-noise ratios showing similar accuracy. When compared against other different algorithms, it exhibited greater repeatabilit, robustness and precision than maximum second derivative and tangent intersection methods. The area triangulation algorithm would be a preferable method for locating the minimum diastolic point of arterial pulse wave, and could be used in studies on pulse wave velocity and pulse transit time.