The latest applications of photoplethysmography

Abstract

The development of medicine and the ability to conduct effective therapy in increasingly severe cases create the need to develop new methods of continuous and non-invasive monitoring of the patient’s condition. One of the techniques that is widely used in many fields of medicine is photoplethysmography (PPG). The analysis of the latest research indicates that PPG can have much more applications than the measurement of heart rate and arterial saturation of the patient — as shown by the latest research, it can be used in the measurement of many other key parameters. The optimism is the multitude of areas in which PPG monitoring is attempted. There are more and more attempts to use photoplethysmography in diagnosis and evaluation of peripheral vascular diseases, assessment of circulation in diabetic patients and assessment of endothelial function. Authors are focusing on new applications of PPG, its advantages and limitations. Most of them agree that PPG can provide useful knowledge about the patient’s condition while being a quick, easy-to-use and cost-effective technique. The following review was created to critically analyze the latest technical developments and uses of PPG in clinical practice. Sources for the following article were found using the PubMed database using keywords such as “photoplethysmography”, “oxygen saturation” and “pulse oximeter”.