The Detection of Arteriosclerosis Using a Non-Contact Method with Microwaves

Atherosclerosis is an extremely common and serious health problem that is often asymptomatic. Typically, symptoms of atherosclerosis do not appear in the early stages, making timely diagnosis difficult. This paper proposes a non-contact method for estimating arteriosclerosis using 2.4GHz microwave signals. From the gained waveforms, we calculated the pulse wave velocity (PWV) as an index of arteriosclerosis. As an evaluation method for the experiment, we conducted a Bland-Altman and Four-Quadrant analysis and a T-test to determine if there was a significant difference between the data of healthy subjects and hypertensive subjects and evaluated it using the p-value. It was found that the speed of the PWV of hypertensive subjects was higher than the speed of the PWV of healthy subjects. The p-value was less than 0.05 when using a pulse waveform. These results indicate the potential to detect arteriosclerosis using microwaves. Traditionally, detecting arterial stiffness has required undergoing tests at hospitals. By measuring at the same frequency as Wi-Fi, in the future, it may be possible to measure blood pressure with a smartphone and easily assess the risk of arteriosclerosis, potentially preventing serious illnesses.