Non-invasive holistic health measurements using pulse diagnosis: I. Validation by three-dimensional pulse mapping

Pulse diagnosis (PD) in Chinese medicine (CM) is a well-established clinical tool used to aid holistic diagnosis. However, most of the recent efforts focusing on single-point pulse waves (SPPWs) have been unable to successfully measure and translate how practitioners feel and interpret the pulse. A prerequisite to validating the holistic model used in CM requires pulse-taking standards and a method to quantify the pulse feeling during PD. Regarding the former, the flatness of the wrist radial artery and the pulse-taking depth as defined by width of the radial artery were proposed. Regarding the latter, three-dimensional pulse mapping (3DPM) was obtained using an array sensor to visibly and quantitatively measure the palpation of the pulse. Cold stimulation was used to incite local vascular stiffness and the increase of the systematic blood pressure, to create the string-like pulse feeling, in contrast to the normal gentle pulse feeling. Three types of 3DPM were found, namely gentle, string-like, and slippery pulse mappings. All SPPWs had similar one-dimensional shapes whereas the corresponding 3DPMs had quite different three-dimensional shapes. For gentle pulse mapping (indicating health), an initial peak appeared and reached the top at the upstroke peak of SPPWs. As the local artery became stiffer by applying cold stimulation, the peak was replaced by a string-like shape. Additionally, a slippery 3DPM was recorded, with two peaks appearing sequentially like a bead flowing through the artery under a fingertip. 3DPM provides quantitatively and non-invasively accesses information to inform holistic health assessment compared to SPPWs. CM can be improved and further developed quantifying pulse palpation and verify its use in assessing a CM clinical holistic diagnosis.