Nadi tarangini: a pulse based diagnostic system

Abstract

Ayurveda is a traditional medicine and natural healing system in India. Nadi-Nidan (pulse-based diagnosis) is a prominent method in Ayurveda, and is known to dictate all the salient features of a human body. In this paper, we provide details of our procedure for obtaining the complete spectrum of the nadi pulses as a time series. The system Nadi Tarangini contains a diaphragm element equipped with strain gauge, a transmitter cum amplifier, and a digitizer for quantifying analog signal. The system acquires the data with 16-bit accuracy with practically no external electronic or interfering noise. Prior systems for obtaining the nadi pulses have been few and far between, when compared to systems such as ECG. The waveforms obtained with our system have been compared with these other similar equipment developed earlier, and is shown to contain more details. The pulse waveform is also shown to have the desirable variations with respect to age of patients, and the pressure applied at the sensing element. The system is being evaluated by Ayurvedic practitioners as a computer-aided diagnostic tool.