Acoustic wave characteristics in the middle and third trimester of
pregnancy: A clinical trial
Abstract
Background and Objective: Pulse diagnosis is the most characteristic
method of diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine and contains a
wealth of pathophysiological information. This study aimed to
investigate the acoustic characteristics of the pulses of pregnant women
in mid- to late-term pregnancy (pregnant women) and relatively healthy
women without pregnancy (non-pregnant women). The pulse of the wrist was
divided into three parts: the Cun, Bar, and Cubit, each of which was
divided vertically into five layers. The perspective of the acoustic
factors in the pulse was analyzed to compare the differences in the
acoustic pulse of pregnant and non-pregnant women. Methods: The acoustic
characteristics of the pulse were analyzed using wavelet analysis and
empirical modal decomposition by combining multi-scale entropy and
Shannon entropy, and the differences between the two groups were
examined. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to
judge the sensitivity and accuracy of the acoustic wave characteristics
for the preliminary diagnosis of pregnancy in women. Results: The
parameters of the third and fourth layers of the Cubit pulse in pregnant
women were significantly different to those of non-pregnant women. The
multi-scale entropy, Shannon entropy values, energy, and acoustic wave
amplitude of the pulses of pregnant women were higher than those of
non-pregnant women, which indicates that pregnant women had more complex
waveform. The acoustic wave characteristics of pregnant women mainly
manifested in the EG and IJ segments of the third layer of the Cubit
pulse, and IJ segment of the fourth layer of the Cubit pulse