baroreflex sensitivity

The baroreflex is the fastest and most powerful mechanism for regulating blood pressure. Indexes of baroreflex sensitivity (brs) are widely used as a prognostic factor in cardiology. For instance, after a myocardial infarction, a depressed baroreflex sensitivity identifies groups at high risk for cardiovascular mortality.

In preclinical research, assessment of baroreflex sensitivity is used to evaluate potential anti-arrhythmic therapies.

Modern computational techniques can provide an index of brs from a blood pressure signal alone. During recording, changes in blood pressure are induced either pharmacologically or physiologically (e.g. change in posture).

The brs setup from emka TECHNOLOGIES uses a sequence technique for assessing brs. It requires only a blood pressure signal. During analysis, the signal is searched for sequences in which a beat-to-beat interval and blood pressure change in the same direction. These sequences are plotted on a graph, and the best-fitted straight line of each sequence is the brs parameter.

brs analysis is an add-on option for the blood pressure (bp) analyzer of ecgAUTO. The user has a choice of which parameter to use for the beat-to-beat interval and blood pressure (available options are those most widely used and accepted in the research community). Furthermore, it is possible to fine-tune the analysis by selecting minimum number of beats in a sequence and minimum variation in signal for start of a sequence.