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T0134-P

Noninvasive Hemodynamic Monitoring in Microgravity, Phase II (Arterial Stiffness)

PI: Gregory Kovacs, H. Craig Heller (Co-I), Stanford University

Early detection of cardiovascular changes is of prime importance for assessing astronaut health in space on short and long term missions. Current technologies (echocardiography, ICG) remain complex for routine use. Therefore, a novel non-invasive ballistocardiograph (BCG) based pulse wave velocity (PWV) system is proposed to monitor for cardiovascular deconditioning. This PWV system is suited for both terrestrial and space use. Testing in reduced gravity will provide vital information to relate future microgravity measurements to existing ground studies.

This work is related to T0051-P Non-Invasive Hemodynamic Monitoring in Microgravity.

Technology Areas (?)
  • TA06 Human Health, Life Support and Habitation Systems
Technology Maturation

This flight campaign is expected to lead to the following maturation steps: (1) Successful recordings of scale-based PWV in microgravity, (2) Successful collection of ground and microgravity PWV measurements using the same device, and (3) Validation of the relationship between ground-based and microgravity-based measurements.

Future Customers

NASA, for preventive monitoring and titration of countermeasures in space. Healthcare providers, for ground-based cardiovascular risk assessments.

Payload Description

To quantify PWV, the timings of central artery pulsations are measured using a (1) microgravitytested BCG weighing scale attached to the airframe, and an (2) ankle-worn photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor. Test subjects are rigidly coupled to the scale using modified snowboard bindings (Fig 2). Data is streamed to a laptop for visualization, as well as logged locally.

Technology Details

  • Selection Date
    AFO8 (Apr 2014)
  • Program Status
    Completed
  • Current TRL (?)
    TRL 4
    Successful FOP Flights
  • 1 Parabolic

Development Team

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