Characterization of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy by finger arterial blood pressure waveform analysis

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a serious heart disease, characterized by dilatation and impaired contraction of the left or both ventricles. These pathophysiological changes were already studied by various techniques, but no complex investigations have been made concerning the peripheral noninvasive blood pressure. We hypothesize that the influence of DCM on cardiac hemodynamics can be derived by the analysis of the noninvasive finger blood pressure waveform. Therefore, a set of 25 parameters was developed, describing typical time intervals, slopes and areas. We analyzed the blood pressure contour in 20 patients with DCM and 20 healthy subjects as controls. Age and heart rate were matched in both groups. The data, recorded by a Portapres M2 device, were computed on a beat-to-beat basis. The calculated values were averaged over a period of 200 s. Ejection related time in patients with DCM was significantly shorter than in controls. It was also measured that the area under the blood pressure curve was significantly reduced in DCM patients, compared with controls. These effects may be caused by a decreased heart efficiency. This introduced new noninvasive method may lead to a more detailed analysis of pathophysiological changes in DCM patients