HDI's technology measures a blood pressure waveform produced by the beating heart that HDI believes can be analyzed to provide an assessment of arterial elasticity. When the aortic valve closes after the heart has ejected its stroke volume of blood (the blood ejected during each heartbeat), the decay or decrease of blood pressure within the arteries prior to the next heartbeat forms a pressure curve or waveform, which is indicative of arterial elasticity. 

Subtle changes in arterial elasticity introduce changes in the arterial system that are reflected in the arterial blood pressure waveform, and research suggests that these changes in the function and structure of the arterial wall precede the development of diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. 

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Utilizing the physiological phenomena associated with blood pressure waveforms, Drs. Jay N. Cohn and Stanley M. Finkelstein, professors at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis and two of the founders of HDI, 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. VIEW MORE ON PRODUCTS

Subsequent to the initial studies of Drs. Cohn and Finkelstein, HDI 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. This also provided HDI with a patent-protected technology platform to support its future business.

By assessing the elasticity of the arterial system, clinical investigators have been able to identify a reduction in arterial elasticity in patients without evidence of traditional risk factors, suggesting the early presence of vascular disease. Furthermore, clinical research data has demonstrated that individuals with heart failure, coronary artery disease, hypertension and diabetes typically exhibit a loss of arterial elasticity. 

These abnormal blood vessel changes often appear to precede overt signs of cardiovascular disease and the occurrence of a heart attack or stroke by many years. Clinical investigators have also demonstrated an age-related loss of elasticity of both the large and small arteries suggesting that premature stiffening of an individual’s arteries is an apparent marker for the early onset of cardiovascular disease.