Nadifit: a novel single position pulse based diagnostic system

Abstract

Both traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and traditional ayurvedic medicine (TAM) rely on a system of radial pulse diagnostics to assess a patient's health. The doctor or practitioner should place all three fingers on the patient's wrist and feel the styloid processes to detect any changes in the radial pulse. However, finding medical professionals skilled in pulse diagnosis or nadipariksha is becoming increasingly challenging in the current and upcoming generation. One technological approach that could solve this issue once and for all would be to transform objective pulse diagnosis into a subjective process. To automate this procedure, however, three separate sensors must be constructed for three positions in order to capture pulse at varying pulse pressures, which increases the hardware complexity for consumer use. To simplify the process and ensure a correct diagnosis, this study presents an effort to create the smart portable system Nadifit, which takes a single pulse reading from the patient. A single pulse is all that's needed to identify distinctive organ patterns, which can then be analyzed to provide insight into potential health issues. Analogue signals are quantified with the help of a microphone, a transmitter, and a 32-bit microprocessor. The data is acquired with a precision of 10 bits and virtually no electronic or contaminating noise outside of the system. The computer receives the collected pulse signal and does time and frequency domain analysis of the Nadi patterns, shapes, and width to determine the presence of the three ayurveda doshas (Vata, pitta, and kapha) as well as Chinese organ patterns (such as Qi stagnation, yin deficiency, yang excess, etc.). The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the suggested system in identifying dosha, making it highly tailored to the individual patient's health issue. It is also demonstrated that the pulse waveform demonstrates the desired fluctuations in relation to patient age, pressure applied to the sensing element and full vs. empty stomach. Comparisons of stiffness across age groups are also performed. Practitioners, vaidhyas, and medical professionals are used to verify the system's accuracy. Hence, we believe a larger segment of the general public will be able to make use of our technology.