Heart Attack Prevention Innovation Uncovered by Russian Researchers

Researchers from the Samara University in Russia have discovered a new inexpensive method of gauging vein elasticity by measuring a patient’s heart and pulse rhythm, which may be quite helpful in heart disease prevention.

The human vascular system has a number of characteristics one should keep an eye on in order to maintain their health, such as, for example, vascular elasticity.

The more stiff a person’s arterial walls are, the more sensitive they are to blood pressure spikes, and the more susceptible they are to conditions such as atherosclerosis, stroke, heart failure and a heart attack.

Currently, vascular elasticity is typically evaluated via various instrumental methods involving ultrasound and X-ray diagnostics, which require expensive specialized equipment and trained medical personnel, Samara University experts note.

However, researchers from the university have recently proposed a less complex diagnostic method based on analyzing the difference between a patient’s heart rhythm and pulse.

“Periodic changes in arterial blood pressure, caused by the so-called Mayer waves, may lead to changes in arteries’ elasticity, which results in additional variability in pulse frequency. It is this difference that serves as a marker of arterial walls’ capacity for stretching,” says Alexander Fedotov from the Samara University’s Laser and Biotechnical Systems department.

According to the scientist, introducing this new non-invasive method of vascular elasticity gauging would help improve the effectiveness of early diagnostics of atherosclerosis and prevent heart attacks.

Having analyzed the medical data they’ve been provided with, the university researchers determined that patients with implanted pacemakers exhibited a difference “of statistical significance” in their pulse rhythm and heart rhythm (which was set by the pacemaker).

The researchers hope to draw the attention of physiologists to the patterns they’ve discovered, in order to help further the knowledge of how the human cardiovascular system works.

The study results were published in the journal Biomedical Engineering.(https://doi.org/10.1007/s10527-023-10301-y).