APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:
- Early identification of cardiovascular disease
- Endothelial function assessment
ADVANTAGES:
- Easy to operate; no need for trained technician
- Facilitates regular patient testing and feedback
- More sensitive than conventional flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) measurement
- Inexpensive to manufacture
- Fully automated test protocol
ABSTRACT:
Jonathan Maltz of Berkeley Laboratory has developed a method of measuring endothelial function using a standard blood pressure cuff. The Berkeley Lab technology measures a different parameter than flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) measurement. As a result, the new invention provides measurements more sensitive to change over time for an individual patient compared to FMD. The Berkeley Lab technology can be used in almost any setting, and it can be applied to arteries in the arms and legs.
The current state-of-the-art, FMD, measures the change in diameter in the brachial artery before and after shutting off blood flow. FMD requires the use of an ultrasound scanner or expensive systems such as Endo-PAT and Vendys, making the current technology unsuitable for frequent testing or continuous monitoring. In addition, the measurements by some FMD systems are based on microvascular tone, which can be compromised by factors such as sympathetic nervous activation. The Berkeley Lab invention overcomes these challenges to enable more convenient patient testing.
Frequent, sensitive measurement of endothelial function may identify the earliest signs of cardiovascular disease in a particular patient. Regular testing may also be used to monitor the effects of interventions such as exercise, smoking cessation, dietary modification and cholesterol-lowering therapy. Patient compliance can be improved by providing weekly or daily feedback. Finally, the measurements provided by the device can be employed as sensitive endpoints for clinical trials of new interventions.
A device based on this technology was further developed by a former licensee. The following are available to new licensees:
- Prototypes
- Data on prototype performance
- Clinical trial data and documents indicating patient response and equivalence to ultrasound method
- Communication with the FDA regarding approval of the device for clinical trial
- Engineering drawings, including editable CAD files for chassis, electronic schematics
- Source code, application source, and firmware source
STATUS:
- Published PCT patent application WO2012/149209 available at www.wipo.int.
DEVELOPMENT STAGE: Functional prototype.
REFERENCE NUMBER: IB-2772
PUBLICATION:
Jonathan Maltz, et al., Measurement of brachial artery endothelial function using a standard blood pressure cuff. Physiol Meas. 2015 November
RELATED TECHNOLOGIES:
Noninvasive Detection of Preclinical Cardiovascular Disease IB-1796
Software Suite for Endothelial Function Assessment 2015-162