Separation of cardiac and respiratory components from the electrical bio-impedance signal using PCA and fast ICA

This paper is an attempt to separate cardiac and respiratory signals from an electrical bio-impedance (EBI) dataset. For this two well-known algorithms, namely Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA), were used to accomplish the task. The ability of the PCA and the ICA methods first reduces the dimension and attempt to separate the useful components of the EBI, the cardiac and respiratory ones accordingly. It was investigated with an assumption, that no motion artefacts are present. To carry out this procedure the two channel complex EBI measurements were provided using classical Kelvin type four electrode configurations for the each complex channel. Thus four real signals were used as inputs for the PCA and fast ICA. The results showed, that neither PCA nor ICA nor combination of them can not accurately separate the components at least are used only two complex (four real valued) input components.Comment: 4 pages, International Conference on Control, Engineering and Information Technology (CEIT'13

Characterisation and correction of respiratory-motion artefacts in cardiac PET-CT

Respiratory motion during cardiac Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Computed Tomography (CT) imaging results in blurring of the PET data and can induce mismatches between the PET and CT datasets, leading to attenuation-correction artefacts. The aim of this project was to develop a method of motion-correction to overcome both of these problems. The approach implemented was to transform a single CT to match the frames of a gated PET study, to facilitate respiratory-matched attenuation-correction, without the need for a gated CT. This is benecial for lowering the radiation dose to the patient and in reducing PETCT mismatches, which can arise even in gated studies. The heart and diaphragm were identied through phantom studies as the structures responsible for generating attenuation-correction artefacts in the heart and their motions therefore needed to be considered in transforming the CT. Estimating heart motion was straight-forward, due to its high contrast in PET, however the poor diaphragm contrast meant that additional information was required to track its position. Therefore a diaphragm shape model was constructed using segmented diaphragm surfaces, enabling complete diaphragm surfaces to be produced from incomplete and noisy initial estimates. These complete surfaces, in combination with the estimated heart motions were used to transform the CT. The PET frames were then attenuation-corrected with the transformed CT, reconstructed, aligned and summed, to produce motion-free images. It was found that motion-blurring was reduced through alignment, although benets were marginal in the presence of small respiratory motions. Quantitative accuracy was improved from use of the transformed CT for attenuation-correction (compared with no CT transformation), which was attributed to both the heart and the diaphragm transformations. In comparison to a gated CT, a substantial dose saving and a reduced dependence on gating techniques were achieved, indicating the potential value of the technique in routine clinical procedures

Improvements in Remote Cardiopulmonary Measurement Using a Five Band Digital Camera

Remote measurement of the blood volume pulse via photoplethysmography (PPG) using digital cameras and ambient light has great potential for healthcare and affective computing. However, traditional RGB cameras have limited frequency resolution. We present results of PPG measurements from a novel five band camera and show that alternate frequency bands, in particular an orange band, allowed physiological measurements much more highly correlated with an FDA approved contact PPG sensor. In a study with participants (n = 10) at rest and under stress, correlations of over 0.92 (p <; 0.01) were obtained for heart rate, breathing rate, and heart rate variability measurements. In addition, the remotely measured heart rate variability spectrograms closely matched those from the contact approach. The best results were obtained using a combination of cyan, green, and orange (CGO) bands; incorporating red and blue channel observations did not improve performance. In short, RGB is not optimal for this problem: CGO is better. Incorporating alternative color channel sensors should not increase the cost of such cameras dramatically

Novel Methods for Weak Physiological Parameters Monitoring.

M.S. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

Doppler radar remote sensing of respiratory function

Doppler radar remote sensing of torso kinematics can provide an indirect measure of cardiopulmonary function. Motion at the human body surface due to heart and lung activity has been successfully used to characterize such measures as respiratory rate and depth, obstructive sleep apnea, and even the identity of an individual subject. For a sedentary subject, Doppler radar can track the periodic motion of the portion of the body moving as a result of the respiratory cycle as distinct from other extraneous motions that may occur, to provide a spatial temporal displacement pattern that can be combined with a mathematical model to indirectly assess quantities such as tidal volume, and paradoxical breathing. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that even healthy respiratory function results in distinct motion patterns between individuals that vary as a function of relative time and depth measures over the body surface during the inhalation/exhalation cycle. Potentially, the biomechanics that results in different measurements between individuals can be further exploited to recognize pathology related to lung ventilation heterogeneity and other respiratory diagnostics

Evaluation of Coronary Artery Bypass by CT Coronary Angiography

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is an accurate method for graft imaging and assessment than invasive coronary angiography (ICA). CTA has excellent sensitivity and specificity. The chapter describes the role of CTA in evaluation of coronary bypass graft. It covers the appropriate indications for performing CTA after bypass operation, patient preparation, as well as protocol and technique of CTA. The chapter describes the post-examination processing of the images and how to interpret CTA images for detection of graft patency or dysfunction as occlusion, partial thrombosis, poor blood flow, and stealing flow from native artery. According to the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Radiology, and the North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging, graft patency assessment with CTA is an appropriate approach in symptomatic patients at risk for graft stenosis/occlusion. Cardiac CT can be used to assess the patency of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) with high diagnostic accuracy compared with ICA and even with a better performance compared to the assessment of native coronaries

Adaptive Signal Processing Techniques and Realistic Propagation Modeling for Multiantenna Vital Sign Estimation

Tämän työn keskeisimpänä tavoitteena on ihmisen elintoimintojen tarkkailu ja estimointi käyttäen radiotaajuisia mittauksia ja adaptiivisia signaalinkäsittelymenetelmiä monen vastaanottimen kantoaaltotutkalla. Työssä esitellään erilaisia adaptiivisia menetelmiä, joiden avulla hengityksen ja sydämen värähtelyn aiheuttamaa micro-Doppler vaihemodulaatiota sisältävät eri vastaanottimien signaalit voidaan yhdistää. Työssä johdetaan lisäksi realistinen malli radiosignaalien etenemiselle ja heijastushäviöille, jota käytettiin moniantennitutkan simuloinnissa esiteltyjen menetelmien vertailemiseksi. Saatujen tulosten perusteella voidaan osoittaa, että adaptiiviset menetelmät parantavat langattoman elintoimintojen estimoinnin luotettavuutta, ja mahdollistavat monitoroinnin myös pienillä signaali-kohinasuhteen arvoilla.This thesis addresses the problem of vital sign estimation through the use of adaptive signal enhancement techniques with multiantenna continuous wave radar. The use of different adaptive processing techniques is proposed in a novel approach to combine signals from multiple receivers carrying the information of the cardiopulmonary micro-Doppler effect caused by breathing and heartbeat. The results are based on extensive simulations using a realistic signal propagation model derived in the thesis. It is shown that these techniques provide a significant increase in vital sign rate estimation accuracy, and enable monitoring at lower SNR conditions

A pervasive body sensor network for monitoring post-operative recovery

Over the past decade, miniaturisation and cost reduction brought about by the semiconductor industry has led to computers smaller in size than a pin head, powerful enough to carry out the processing required, and affordable enough to be disposable. Similar technological advances in wireless communication, sensor design, and energy storage have resulted in the development of wireless “Body Sensor Network (BSN) platforms comprising of tiny integrated micro sensors with onboard processing and wireless data transfer capability, offering the prospect of pervasive and continuous home health monitoring. In surgery, the reduced trauma of minimally invasive interventions combined with initiatives to reduce length of hospital stay and a socioeconomic drive to reduce hospitalisation costs, have all resulted in a trend towards earlier discharge from hospital. There is now a real need for objective, pervasive, and continuous post-operative home recovery monitoring systems. Surgical recovery is a multi-faceted and dynamic process involving biological, physiological, functional, and psychological components. Functional recovery (physical independence, activities of daily living, and mobility) is recognised as a good global indicator of a patient’s post-operative course, but has traditionally been difficult to objectively quantify. This thesis outlines the development of a pervasive wireless BSN system to objectively monitor the functional recovery of post-operative patients at home. Biomechanical markers were identified as surrogate measures for activities of daily living and mobility impairment, and an ear-worn activity recognition (e-AR) sensor containing a three-axis accelerometer and a pulse oximeter was used to collect this data. A simulated home environment was created to test a Bayesian classifier framework with multivariate Gaussians to model activity classes. A real-time activity index was used to provide information on the intensity of activity being performed. Mobility impairment was simulated with bracing systems and a multiresolution wavelet analysis and margin-based feature selection framework was used to detect impaired mobility. The e-AR sensor was tested in a home environment before its clinical use in monitoring post-operative home recovery of real patients who have undergone surgery. Such a system may eventually form part of an objective pervasive home recovery monitoring system tailored to the needs of today’s post-operative patient.Open acces