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Team Under Pressure is working closely with the DeBakey Institute at Texas A&M to redesign and build a device that will measure blood pressure in arterioles. Furthermore, team Under Pressure is developing LabVIEW software to electronically control the device. This device will enable accurate measurements of microvasculature blood pressure, in real time, and with minimal changes to the natural behavior of the blood vessel.
Currently, devices of this type are not available on the market, and existing models have fallen into disrepair. However, in their research articles, Wiederhielm et al.(1972) and Intaglietta, Pawula, and Tompkins (1969) describe their methods in creating a similar device. Through reading these articles, Team Under Pressure has gained a more intuitive understanding of the design process and has decided that the main objective guiding development is to provide a quick, safe, and accurate measurement of blood pressures in vessels no larger than 80µm.
In order to accomplish this task, our device must successfully operate at a frequency of 80 Hz or greater in order to accurately model the pressure waveform in real time. In order to obtain this objective, the team plans to utilize a servo-controlled, electronic design. Also, this design must include multiple safety mechanisms in order to ensure safety of the test subject. Using these objectives to guide development of the device, Team Under Pressure is confident that this device can be created successfully, forever changing cardiovascular research.
