Design Synthesis and Preliminary Evaluation of a Novel Tool to Noninvasively Characterize Pressurized, Physiological Vessels

Abstract

A prolonged increase in intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) is life-threatening, yet commonly seen in intensive care units (ICUs). Despite this, existing clinically accepted IAP measurement techniques are invasive and not inter-rater reliable. As such, it is the effort of this research to develop a direct, noninvasive, handheld tool to measure internal pressures in pressurized, physiological vessels. The novel device uses a localized known pressure (namely, aspiration) to measure resulting tissue deformation, from which internal pressures can be divulged considering the extended Hencky solution. Two male participants were tested with the device to confirm feasibility of the theoretical device function for IAP measurement. Participants' Young's moduli of the abdominal wall were calculated with measured IAP values. Results were consistent with participant body mass indices and overall health. Average measured IAP was 0.42 kPa and 0.46 kPa at supine and inclined positions, respectively. Average measured abdominal wall elasticity was 14.91 kPa and 23.09 kPa at supine and inclined positions, respectively. These preliminary findings suggest the potential use of the device described herein as a measurement system for pressurized vessels, whereas the system will be tested on a larger sample size before recommending clinical use.