The preservation of your vascular health

PAT (Peripheral Arterial Tone) technology is a non-invasive window to the cardiovascular system and autonomic nervous system. PAT signal technology serves as a platform which is clinically applied in Itamar Medical’s devices, in a wide variety of medical conditions. The PAT based products provide early-stage detection of disease and facilitate follow-up; improving patient care while reducing the overall cost of healthcare.

In order to reliably measure and monitor the PAT signal, Itamar Medical has developed convenient, easy-to-use, non-invasive proprietary finger probes. The data recorded from the probes is analyzed by advanced digital signal processing algorithms and presented to the physician by dedicated software.

PAT signal acquisition

The PAT signal is a measure of pulsatile blood volume changes. Knowledge of this biometric provides clinicians & researchers with a “window” into the body’s physiology and pathological states.

The PAT signal is recorded from the fingertips by non-invasive, modified plethysmography-based probes. The probes are uniquely designed to optimally overcome the challenges of the measurement environment.

The PAT probes impart a uniform, sub-diastolic pressure field to the distal two thirds of the fingers including their tips. This is extremely important as it:

Thus, the unique PAT probes facilitate the accurate, robust and user-independent measurement of the PAT Signal.

PAT signal processing

The PAT signal is recorded from the probes to digital media. The PAT signal is “cleaned” from noise and the data undergoes advanced digital signal processing by dedicated algorithms.  The application-specific PAT software calculates the various clinical parameters in an interpreter-independent fashion.

The software is easy to use and provides a user-friendly display of the data for review by the physician, with comprehensive, automatic, printable reports which include multiple test parameters and statistics.

The Itamar Standard

Itamar products share the common concept of uniquely designed, single-use PAT finger probes, optimally tailored to measure the PAT signal with application-specific algorithms. The data acquired is automatically processed, analyzed and presented to the physician by proprietary software. This standard provides for user-independent, highly reliable and reproducible medical devices, facilitating clinicians’ decision making process and researchers’ work in a user-friendly environment necessitating very little training.

Itamar Medical's PAT based devices strategically position the company to meet the diagnosis and consulting needs of busy medical centers and practices in the 21^st century.

Scientific Collaboration

Itamar’s collaborates with leading researchers in top medical and research institutes. The PAT technology is incorporated in advanced research programs at institutes such as the Framingham Heart Study, The Mayo Clinic, Harvard School of Medicine, Boston University, New England Medical Center, Yale University, Pittsburgh University Medical Center, Mount Sinai NY, Cedars-Sinai, Johns Hopkins University, Emory University and many more.

These collaborations have yielded almost 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and well over 100 abstracts at major scientific meetings. 

Intellectual property

The PAT Signal and methodology has a strong intellectual property position. Four patents have been issued in the US, and several applications are currently pending. The first allowed US patent claim was very comprehensive and includes the following statement:

"Monitoring changes in peripheral arterial tone and determining that a change in the physiological condition of the patient has occurred"

Multiple patents were issued worldwide, with several more pending.