Changes of Femoral Photolethysmographic Waveform Characteristics in Anesthetized Dogs with Increased Blood Pressure Induced by Epinephrine

BACKGROUND Blood pressure (BP) has been proven to play an important role in changes of the morphology of a pulse waveform. However, the extent of change of the morphology because of BP signaling has yet to be accurately confirmed. OBJECTIVES This study aims to disclose the accurate effect of BP on the changes in the morphology of the pulse waveform. METHODS Two dogs' invasive intraventricular BP (varied by ejecting different doses of epinephrine) and their femoral arterial pulse waveform (FAPW) signals were synchronously recorded. For each BP increase, a normalized single cardiac beat pulse from the FAPW signal was fitted by five Gaussian curves and the changes in the Gaussian parameters (height, peak position, and time support) were observed. RESULTS The height parameter increased while the position and time support parameters decreased with increasing systolic BP (SBP). The height ratio and the peak intervals between the first two components decreased with increasing SBP. CONCLUSIONS These results may contribute to the better understanding of the underlying changes of arterial pulse properties at different BP levels and demonstrate the potential application value of the Gaussian fitting method for clinically assessing pulse morphology and evaluating the well-being of artery system.