Non-contact hemodynamic imaging reveals the jugular venous pulse waveform
This provides a non-invasive way to assess cardiac health for patients, avoiding the need for catheterisation, though it is incremental as it applies an existing imaging technique to a new application.
The researchers tackled the problem of invasive cardiovascular monitoring by demonstrating a non-contact method to observe the jugular venous pulse (JVP) waveform using a novel light-based imaging system, achieving consistent observation of JVP inflection points for cardiac assessment.
Cardiovascular monitoring is important to prevent diseases from progressing. The jugular venous pulse (JVP) waveform offers important clinical information about cardiac health, but is not routinely examined due to its invasive catheterisation procedure. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the JVP can be consistently observed in a non-contact manner using a novel light-based photoplethysmographic imaging system, coded hemodynamic imaging (CHI). While traditional monitoring methods measure the JVP at a single location, CHI's wide-field imaging capabilities were able to observe the jugular venous pulse's spatial flow profile for the first time. The important inflection points in the JVP were observed, meaning that cardiac abnormalities can be assessed through JVP distortions. CHI provides a new way to assess cardiac health through non-contact light-based JVP monitoring, and can be used in non-surgical environments for cardiac assessment.