Abstract: Calibrated method characterizing blood flow in a patient's limb during reactive hyperemia episode utilizes a blood pressure cuff, establishes a predetermined, near diastolic, pressure in the cuff during the episode, continually senses the pressure cuff and periodically changes the internal volume of the cuff by a predetermined volumetric amount to calibrate the system with a calibration pressure pulse. The method may determine the condition of blood vessels and endothelium by determining, for each calibration cycle, a blood volume peak and comparing the peak with peak volume values for healthy blood vessels and endothelium (potentially waveform analysis). The method, implemented as a system, inflates, during pre-test, the cuff to a suprasystolic pressure, and establishes the near diastolic pressure in the cuff during the episode. A sensor generates a pressure signal and a subsystem periodically changes the volume during calibration such that a corrected and calibrated blood volume signal is calculated.

Abstract: The calibrated method for characterizing blood flow in a limb of a patient during reactive hyperemia utilizes a blood pressure cuff. The method establishes a predetermined, near diastolic, pressure in said blood pressure cuff during the reactive hyperemic episode, continually senses the pressure in the cuff and periodically changes the internal volume of said blood pressure cuff by a predetermined volumetric amount to calibrate the system. The resultant change in the pressure is a calibration pressure pulse and is used to calculates pulsatile blood volume through the blood vessel. A calibrated method for determining the condition of blood vessels and endothelium includes determining, for each calibration cycle, a respective peak value for the blood volume and comparing the peak blood volume values with peak blood volume values for healthy blood vessels and endothelium. The comparison preferably utilizes a waveform.