Development of the CVProfilor^®

Utilizing the physiological phenomena associated with blood pressure waveform data, Drs. Jay N. Cohn and Stanley M. Finkelstein, professors at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, developed in the early 1980’s a method for determining a measure of elasticity in both large and small arteries.

The technique involved an invasive procedure that placed a small catheter connected to a pressure transducer into the patient’s artery in order to obtain a blood pressure waveform that could be analyzed using a modified Windkessel model. This model is a well-established electrical analog model which describes the pressure changes during the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle in the circulatory system.

The modified Windkessel model represents the vasculature as consisting of a capacitive compliance element (C1 - Large Artery Elasticity Index), an oscillatory or reflective compliance element (C2 - Small Artery Elasticity Index), an inductance and a resistance, during the diastolic decay portion of the cardiac cycle.

Subsequent to the initial studies of Drs. Cohn and Finkelstein, HD developed a non-invasive approach. This blood pressure waveform or "pulse contour analysis" method provided an independent assessment of the elasticity or flexibility of the large arteries which expand to briefly store blood ejected by the heart, and of the very small arteries (and arterioles) which produce oscillations or reflections in response to the blood pressure waveform generated during each heart beat. These developments led to the current technology used today in the CVProfilor^® System.