IIT Madras develops device to assess blood vessels

Researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have developed a novel, non-invasive device to assess the health and age of blood vessels

Hyderabad: Researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have developed a novel, non-invasive device to assess the health and age of blood vessels, and thereby provide early screening for cardiovascular diseases.

The device, known as Artsens, is designed in such a way that it can be used in the routine medical examination even by non-expert, to assess and predict vascular health. It is developed by the Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre at IIT Madras.

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The technology and field results of this device have already been published in over 100 scientific peer-reviewed publications. The latest research papers were published in the ‘Journal of Hypertension’ (doi: 10.1097/HJH.0000000000003181) and ‘American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology’ (10.1152/ajpheart.00335.2022).

The research was led by Dr. Jayaraj Joseph, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras. The paper in the ‘Journal of Hypertension’ was co-authored by Dr. PM Nabeel, Lead Research Scientist, V Raj Kiran, PhD Scholar, and Dr. Jayaraj Joseph.

Despite tremendous improvements in treatments and procedures, heart and blood vessel-related diseases continue to be the leading cause of death throughout the world. Early detection and timely intervention is the key.

“The device can assess the effect of molecular and protein level changes in the blood vessel wall caused due to disease and ageing, by measuring the material property in a completely non-invasive and accurate manner,” said Dr. Jayaraj Joseph highlighting the unique features of Artsens.

This device also makes vascular ageing assessment accessible to a large population in both clinical and non-clinical settings such as in a gym and health centre, among others.

It has been approved for clinical studies in India, US, and Europe. An extensive clinical study is underway at AIIMS New Delhi. Scientists at Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands, are using this device to investigate the association between arterial age, physical (in)activity, and cardiovascular events, and AIIMS New Delhi researchers are using it to study and understand the physiological underpinnings of arterial ageing in various disease conditions.

Highlighting the clinical utility of this device, Prof. Dick Thijssen, Radboud UMC, The Netherlands, who also collaborated on this project, said, “We have used the device in our recent clinical studies on more than 600 subjects. It is easy to use, portable, and allows large scale research studies to truly understand vascular ageing.”

The device simultaneously checks for arterial stiffness and central blood pressure. The device comprises pressure cuffs to be affixed at the upper arm and thighs and a probe applied to the surface of the neck to detect the carotid artery. It measures carotid arterial stiffness, aortic pulse wave velocity, and central blood pressure, all three being important markers of cardiovascular health.

The IIT Madras team, not only performed basic scientific research but also engineering and tech development for clinically validated prototypes. Simulation studies and randomised experiments were conducted on animals and human subjects to prove efficacy and meet the standards required of biomedical diagnostic devices.

In their recent publication in the ‘Journal of Hypertension’, the IIT Madras researchers have described the assessment of the usability, accuracy, and the intra-/inter-operator variabilities of the latest version of the device – ARTSENS® Plus.