Jugular Venous Pulse Waveform Acquisition using Contact Piezo Sensor: A Pilot Study.

The jugular venous pulse (JVP) is an important signal for detecting cardiovascular abnormalities pertaining to the right atrium. The gold standard technique of central venous line catheterization is invasive, risky, and demands expertise and hence performed only in critical care settings. Non-invasive approaches such as ultrasound and photoplethysmography are used for JVP measurement but are limited by usability issues related to the operator's expertise. In this pilot study, we demonstrate the feasibility of acquiring JVP signals from the jugular veins (JV) using a contact piezoelectric sensor. The JVP piezo signals were acquired from 20 healthy participants and were validated against the reference ultrasound approach. The piezoelectric system could capture high-fidelity JVP signals at a resolution of 0.25 ms. The developed cycle segmentation algorithm was implemented to extract individual JVP cycles. The JVP cycles captured using the proposed and the reference methodologies yielded a correlation of 0.90 and a root mean square error (RMSE) less than 0.35. The developed pulse contour analysis algorithm evaluated the beat-to-beat JVP fiduciary marker locations with a maximum coefficient of variation of 17 %. The piezoelectric sensor measurements were more susceptible to motion artifacts in comparison to the reference ultrasound system. To our knowledge, this is the first use of contact piezo sensors for direct measurement of JVP signals. Future advancements based on this technique can provide viable options for ambulatory and self-measurement-based cardiac health screening.