REUTILIZATION OF PULSE PRESSURE AND TONOMETRY EQUIPMENT
Impedance/Tonometry System
2016
System vascular impedance is a mathematically derived spectrum of data that indicates opposition to pulsatile blood flow. Impedance cannot be directly measured. Rather, it is calculated using data from pulsatile waveforms and blood volume flow waveforms. Three years ago at UW Madison, Dr. Nancy Sweitzer conducted research on impedance to blood flow using tonometry and blood flow equipment. The equipment has since been left and is not in use or working condition. The owner of the left over equipment, Dr. Naomi Chesler, has tasked this biomedical team with reassembling the instruments with the ultimate goal of measuring impedance data in healthy individuals. In the process of reassembly, it is the job of the team to take inventory of which devices work and which don’t, which devices have missing or incomplete parts, and which instruments can be re-utilized for future use in research.
A great deal of problem solving and detective work was involved in this project. We mapped the use of the machines and defined each one's goal. I learned a lot about impedance and tonometry and general hemodynamics. We gave the professor that tasked us with this project a complete and detailed list of what she could use these machines for in her research. This project was unreported as far as media and use in the community, but is highly relevant to the professor's day to day research.
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Check out full project at; Impedance/Tonometry System