Cardiovascular oscillations of the carotid artery assessed by magnetoelastic skin curvature sensor.

The present study concerns the nondisturbing assessment of cardiovascular oscillations of the carotid artery using a novel skin curvature sensor on the neck. The mechanical oscillations of the skin reflect changes of the artery radius and thus relevant physiological data such as cardiac and respiratory activities, their mutual dependencies, and even changes of blood pressure. The skin curvature sensor is easy to handle and it minimally disturbs the patient, which is relevant for many medical areas such as sleep monitoring.