Developing the Effective Method of Spectral Harmonic Energy Ratio to Analyze the Arterial Pulse Spectrum

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the arterial pulse in the spectral domain. A parameter, the spectral harmonic energy ratio (SHER), is developed to assess the features of the overly decreased spectral energy in the fourth to sixth harmonic for palpitation patients. Compared with normal subjects, the statistical results reveal that the mean value of SHER in the patient group (57.7 ± 27.9) is significantly higher than that of the normal group (39.7 ± 20.9) (P-value = .0066 < .01). This means that the total energy in the fourth to sixth harmonic of palpitation patients is significantly less than it is in normal subjects. In other words, the spectral distribution of the arterial pulse gradually decreases for normal subjects while it decreases abruptly in higher-order harmonics (the fourth, fifth and sixth harmonics) for palpitation patients. Hence, SHER is an effective method to distinguish the two groups in the spectral domain. Also, we can thus know that a “gradual decrease” might mean a “balanced” state, whereas an “abrupt decrease” might mean an “unbalanced” state in blood circulation and pulse diagnosis. By SHER, we can determine the ratio of energy distribution in different harmonic bands, and this method gives us a novel viewpoint from which to comprehend and quantify the spectral harmonic distribution of circulation information conveyed by the arterial pulse. These concepts can be further applied to improve the clinical diagnosis not only in Western medicine but also in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Pulse Wave Harmony: Ancient Wisdoms for Modern Age

“…Harmonic ratios have been studied in [35,53] in relationship with the Chinese medicine framework and the organs function. It would be premature to draw conclusions from our study in relation to the element theory, but we can however mention that the harmonic ratios H 1,2 and H 2,4 could indeed be linked to the relationship between the heart and the lungs, and between the lungs and smaller organs involved in digestion respectively [35].…”

“…This behavior can be related to local vasoconstriction and/or dilation of the vessels as well as the arterial branching system which influences the location of the dicrotic notch as well as the amplitude of the dicrotic wave. It can be described using spectral entropies and location and bandwidth of the harmonics of the pulse wave [34,35].…”

“…where Ω is the bandwidth of interest andP(ω) is an estimation of the energy-normalised power power of such signal. However, the relative power using ratios of harmonics is relevant and indeed contains known health information [35,[53][54][55]. In our work we will limit the number of harmonics to Nb H = 4 and we use the harmonic power ratios as features: H i,j = A H i /A H j for i, j = 0, .., Nb H with j > i.…”

“…In this continuation, the complexity of a wave can be quantified by its fourier spectrum, and thus its harmonic content if this wave is periodic or quasi-periodic. As it was introduced in Section 4.1.1, the harmonic analysis proved to be a very efficient way to extract pulse wave structure parameters [35,53,72]. Additionally, it has been shown in many publications that this harmonic analysis is relevant for detecting pathological conditions such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, myocardial ischemia and decrease of heart function in type II diabetes patients.…”

New Assessment Model of Pulse Depth Based on Sensor Displacement in Pulse Diagnostic Devices

“…Further progress has been made in pulse-signal processing and noise reduction [16–20]. In addition, studies verifying pulse characteristics of palpitation patients [21], dyspepsia and rhinitis patients [22], and cold/heat-stressed humans [23] and studies explicitly comparing pulse characteristics among the three pulse-diagnostic locations [24–26] were recently reported. All of these research activities will move up the development of objective and reliable pulse diagnostic devices.…”