Yi Qi, Ying Jie Chee, Congwen Miao, Songhua Zheng, Tristan Wen Jie Choo, Ruochong Zhang, Quan Wang, Michael Yu Qi Zhou, Malini Olivo, Rinkoo Dalan, Renzhe Bi,
An automated optical flow-mediated dilation method for fast screening of endothelial function,
Biomedical Signal Processing and Control,
Volume 118,
2026,
109785,
ISSN 1746-8094,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2026.109785
Abstract:
Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is the non-invasive gold standard for assessing endothelial dysfunction, an early and reversible marker of atherosclerosis, yet its uptake is limited by the cost, complexity, and operator dependence of ultrasound. This study presents an optical method that quantifies FMD using a compact, low-cost, fully automated diffuse speckle pulsatile flowmetry (DSPF) device. The system offers a new optical FMD metric (FMDDSPF) that achieves a strong correlation (87%) with clinical ultrasound FMD index and high discriminative performance for endothelial dysfunction (AUC = 0.8475), demonstrating accuracy comparable to Doppler ultrasound. By enabling convenient, reliable evaluation of endothelial dysfunction at the point of care, this optical technology holds substantial promise as a primary-care screening tool for cardiovascular risk stratification and longitudinal monitoring, with the potential to improve prevention pathways and broaden access to vascular health assessment.
License type:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore - Biomedical Research Council Central Research Fund 2024
Grant Reference no. : NA
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore - Industry Alignment Fund - Pre-positioning
Grant Reference no. : H24J4a0146
This research / project is supported by the National Medical Research Council, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore - Open Fund - Individual Research Grant
Grant Reference no. : OFIRG25jan-0092