Project Description:
While many philanthropic studies focus on “high-profile” killers such as HIV and malaria, the primary cause of death throughout the developing world still stems from issues related to the heart. The World Health Organization (WHO) has begun to seriously consider the growing number of hypertensive patients throughout the world. A major barrier to tackling this health care challenge is recording consistently accurate blood pressure measurements.
The aim of this project is to develop a low cost, easy-to-use device to assist a minimally-trained person in taking the blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer. The device should easily mechanical connect to the existing sphygmomanometer (clamp around the tubing, for example) that amplifies the pressure signal. With the signal now visible, the oscillatory BP method is possible with a standard sphygmomanometer. This eliminates the need to be trained to identify Korotkoff sounds (the oscillatory use of a sphygmomanometer does not require a stethoscope). The user should be able to identify at least systolic pressure without training (only picture instructions), and ideally, be able to identify diastolic pressure with minimal training.
Project Mentor:
Engineering Mentor: Bruce Yang, PhD, Co-Founder, Laser Associated Sciences, bruceyang@laserassociatedsciences.com
Physician Mentor: Hamid Moradi MD, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, UCI, hmoradi@uci.edu
Other Resources:
Note: students will need to sign an IP agreement to work on this project.
Prior Design:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p1ma49e049446y2/AADgUJS2BovuMIrd6KSbYLHHa?dl=0
Team Members:
Jeff Hsiao, Sonya Mao Hu, Vincent B. Le, Hui Li, Qingyun Zhu