The cardiovascular system is one of the most critical issues during long space journeys, such as those needed to reach Mars. In an elaborate study together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the effects of 60 days of simulated zero gravity on the human body were observed. The results are not only important for future space travel, but also for the individual treatment of cardiovascular diseases. "Experimental Physiology", the publication platform of the well-known "The Physiological Society" now focuses in an Editor's Pick on AIT expert Stefan Orter, Competence Unit Medical Signal Analysis of the Center for Health and Bioresources, and the study "A comparison between left ventricular ejection time measurement methods during physiological changes induced by simulated microgravity".
With more than one third of all deaths, cardiovascular diseases were again the most frequent cause of death in Austria in 2021 and a challenge for the patients and the health care system. The experts of the Competence Unit Medical Signal Analysis (HSA) of the Center for Health & Bioresources deal with the topic of early detection and diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases using automatable systems and algorithms.
Stefan Orter, from the blood pressure analysis group of HSA, explains: "In the study, weightlessness or deconditioning of the cardiovascular system was simulated over 60 days through long-term bed rest, in which test subjects underwent several measurements in a 6° head-down position," Orter continues "Before, during and after bed rest, measurements were carried out simultaneously with gold standard cardiac ultrasound and the CardioCube developed by AIT, which can record continuous blood pressure waves by means of oscillometric measurement." Bernhard Hametner, coordinator of the project is satisfied with the result: "The work shows that determination of systolic time intervals with a complex ultrasound measurement can be reproduced by using automatable oscillometric blood pressure measurements in combination with analysis algorithms." Hametner is certain that the results will lead to earlier and better diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases: "Although cardiovascular diseases are still the most common cause of death today, many cases remain undetected for a long time. With the help of non-invasive, automatable, and easy-to-use measurement methods and analyses, this number of unreported cases could be considerably reduced and thus the course of the disease alleviated or stopped."
With the paper "A comparison between left ventricular ejection time measurement methods during physiological changes induced by simulated microgravity", the group succeeded in convincing the editors of the journal Experimental Physiology and thus secured the Editor's Pick for March 2022.
Watch the Editor's Pick video with Stefan Orter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJf37VPZEhA
The study: https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/EP090
