Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1088/2977-8425/ae4b40

Publication Title

Medical Sensors & Imaging

Volume

Advance online publication

Pages

1-25

Abstract

Aim: This study investigates the feasibility of using radial and carotid arterial pulse signals to assess cardiovascular (CV) function at rest and during post-exercise recovery in a heart transplant (HTx) patient. Method: Two micro-fabricated tactile sensors were used to simultaneously acquire arterial pulse signals at the radial artery (RA) and carotid artery (CA). Measurements were taken at rest and at multiple time points post-exercise on three subjects: an HTx patient, a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; coronary stent) patient and a healthy control. An SDOF-TF-based time-frequency analysis algorithm was applied to extract a comprehensive set of CV parameters, including heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), respiration rate (RR), respiration modulation (RM), and normalized arterial pulse waveform (APW). Results: RA-derived parameters revealed expected features in the HTx patient at rest, including elevated HR, reduced HRV, and increased arterial stiffness. Although RM increased with harmonic order at rest in the HTx patient, this trend was disrupted at certain post-exercise time points, unlike in the PCI and healthy controls. Both patients exhibited distinct deviations from the healthy control at rest and during recovery. Due to pronounced motion artifacts, CA measurements were unreliable for HRV, RR, and RM, and did not provide additional information, except for the normalized APW. Qualitatively, CA-derived APW indicated markedly increased arterial stiffness in both patients relative to the healthy control, whereas at the RA, arterial stiffness was similar in the two controls and lower than in the HTx patient. Conclusion: Radial arterial pulse signal assessment at rest and during post-exercise recovery provides a reliable, convenient, and low-cost approach for detailed and nuanced evaluation of CV function in a HTx patient. Compared with current clinical tools, this method enables multi-parameter CV characterization from a single pulse signal and shows promise for personalized treatment strategies and long-term CV monitoring.

Rights

© 2026 The Authors

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Original Publication Citation

Rahman, M. M., Hasan, M., May, J., Herre, J., Reynolds, L., & Hao, Z. (2026). Radial and carotid arterial pulse signals for assessing cardiovascular function at rest and during post-exercise recovery in a heart transplant patient: A case study. Medical Sensors & Imaging. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1088/2977-8425/ae4b40

ORCID

0009-0006-7544-5938 (Hasan), 0000-0003-0075-2168 (Reynolds), 0000-0003-2024-1947 (Hao)

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