Noninvasive Assessment of Jugular Venous Pressure via Force-Coupled Single Crystal Ultrasound.

Objective: we have developed a handheld device for noninvasive quantitative assessment of jugular venous pressure (JVP).

Methods: we used a single crystal ultrasound coupled to a force-sensing load cell to measure JVP based on the force necessary to collapse the internal jugular vein (IJV) walls. We used a gelatin-based model system of the IJV to test the ability of single crystal ultrasound to identify the IJV and verified the cross-sectional position and diameter of the vessels with conventional imaging ultrasound.