Research Methods

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    Retinal Vessel Analyzer
    Autonomic measuring station
    Cardiovascular monitoring
    Trigonometric regressive spectral analysis

Here are some pictures of our research facility and our mainstay analytical techniques:

Retinal Vessel Analyzer (Imedos GmbH, Jena, Germany)

Autonomic measuring station - SUEMPATHIE 800 (SUESS Medizin-Technik GmbH, Aue, Germany) Autonomic measuring station and tilting table

Autonomic measuring station and tilting table

Cardiovascular monitoring:
left: Colin 7000 (Kaiser-Medizintechnik, Bad Hersfeld, Germany);
right: SphygmoCor Px/Vx System (AtCor medical Ltd., Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Cardiovascular monitoring:
Finometer™ device (FMS, Finapres Measurement Systems, Amsterdam, Netherlands)

The assessment of the autonomic nervous system frequently involves measurement of heart rate and blood pressure. A range of devices such as the autonomic measuring station by SUESS-Medizintechnik GmbH, Aue, Germany, the Colin 7000 monitor (Kaiser-Medizintechnik, Bad Hersfeld, Deutschland) and the Finometer™ device (FMS, Finapress Measurement Systems, Amsterdam, Netherlands) compute heart rate, blood pressure, transcranial duplex sonography and other parameters on a beat-to-beat basis online and store the data in result files.

A variety of spectral analytical methods are available for evaluation of such pulsatile biosignals. The innovative trigonometric regressive spectral analysis (TRS) has recently been developed at the Medical Faculty of the Dresden University of Technology (→ publications). Unlike various highly sophisticated algorithms such as Fourier analysis (FFT), Wavelet transformation, Wigner-Ville distribution etc. the TRS is based upon regression analysis and generates true physiological oscillations.
From the latter, the baroreflex sensitivity can be directly computed. In contrast to other methods, the TRS requires only very short data segments (60-120 seconds) for computation. Applying TRS, reliable results are obtained even under pathological conditions. In 2004, the European Working Group on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Variability A-rated the TRS along with two other methods at their consensus meeting in Maastricht, The Netherlands.