Abstract

Sameh El-Sharo

A limited number of noninvasive techniques are available for the study of the state of the circulatory system. In this paper, we introduce, for the first time, a systemic method that can be used to assess the function of the cardiovascular system as a whole by building templates (patterns) that characterize its different states. This novel method makes use of the information embedded in both, the ECG, which characterizes mainly the function of the heart, and the pulse waveform, which reflects the function of the blood vessels. The main idea here is to combine the two signals simultaneously in a way to get a two-dimensional plot or a vectorgram, which is called a vectorcardiovasculargram (VCVG), while the technique for obtaining it is the vectorcardiovasculargraphy. Since there is a lack in factual data in clinical situation, we have used Matlab techniques to simulate the ECG and pulse wave signals of normal and some pathologic cases and then to construct the vectorgram for them. In order to test this method, we have created additional vectorgrams by using some ECG signals and pulse waveforms taken from the directory of the BioBench software. The shapes of the vectorcardiovasculargrams obtained varied according to the structural and functional performance of the circulation system. This is why they can be used clinically for diagnosis of the pathological states and diseases of the cardiovascular system.