Wavelet analysis of motor unit action potentials

Statystyczne opracowanie parametrów przebiegów czasowych potencjałów czynnościowych jednostek ruchowych zapewnia w wiekszości przypadków diagnozę, ale ze względu na niejednoznaczność w określaniu parametrów czasowych oraz ich liczbę, niezbędne jest duże doświadczenie neurologa interpretującego wyniki. W artykule zaprezentowano nowa metodę diagnozowania chorób nerwowo-mięśniowych, opartą na liniowej analizie dyskryminacyjnej skalogramów wyznaczonych za pomocą falek Symlet 4 z rzędu. Z otrzymanych w wyniku transformacji falkowej skalogramów wyekstrahowano sześć parametrów falkowych, które sprowadzono do pojedynczego parametru umożliwiającego dyskryminację przypadków prawidłowych, miogennych i neurogennych. Implementacja programowa proponowanej metody umożliwiła stworzenie komputerowego narzędzia diagnostycznego wspomagającego badanie elektromiograficzne o bardzo wysokim prawdopodobieństwie prawidłowej oceny stanu mięśnia.This paper presents a new approach to the computer aided diagnostic systems for the needs of quantitative electromyography. Electromyography is a functional examination which plays a fundamental role in diagnostics of muscles and nerves diseases. The method allows for distinction between records of a healthy muscle and a changed one as well as for determination whether pathological changes are of primary myogenic or neurogenic character. Statistical processing of electromyography examination performed traditionally in the time domain ensures mostly correct classification of pathology without determination of a disease progression. However, because of an ambiguity of temporal parameters definitions a diagnosis can include a significant error which depends strongly on physician experience. So far, medical practice imposes, as a consensus, registration of at least 20 different motor unit action potentials belonging to one muscle. Them selected temporal parameters (presented in the paper) are determined for each run and their mean values are calculated. In the final stage, these mean values are compared with a standard and including also additional electromyography information a diagnosis is given. An inconvenience of this procedure in a clinical practice consist in high time-consumption arising, among others, from the necessity of determination of many parameters, usually between 4 and 7. Additionally, as it was mentioned above, an ambiguity in determination of basic temporal parameters can cause doubts during comparison of parameters found by the physician with standard ones determined in other research center which mostly uses equipment of older generation. A new approach we presented is based on the analysis of wavelet scalograms of the motor unit action potentials calculated on the basis of Symlet 4. The scalograms provide the vector consisting of five features describing the state of a muscle that can be reduced to one feature. In consequence, the healthy, myogenic and neurogenic cases can be successfully classified with the use of a linear method. A final effect of the first research stage was development of a definition for single point discriminant directly enabling a unique diagnosis to be made. An essential advantage of the suggested discriminant is a precise and algorithmically realized definition which enables an objective comparison of examination results obtained by physicians with different experience and working in different research centers. So, the definition fulfils a fundamental criterion for the parameter used for standard preparation. A suggestion of the standard for selected muscle is presented in the last part of the paper. The aim of next studies is a definition of standards which could allow a unique classification of myogenic, neurogenic and physiological cases for a large group of muscles based on a more numerous population. Currently, the authors are working on implementation of suggested procedures into diagnostic software that could be compatible with Viking IV D system developed by the Nicolet BioMedical Inc

Spectral analysis of motor unit potentials

Statystyczne opracowanie wyników badania elektromiograficznego realizowane w dziedzinie czasu zapewnia w większości przypadków prawidłową klasyfikację patologii bez określenia stopnia zaawansowania choroby. Celem prezentowanych badań jest stworzenie aplikacji, która wykorzystując specjalnie opracowane algorytmy cyfrowego przetwarzania sygnałów, w sposób automatyczny i jednoznaczny wyznaczy rodzaj patologii oraz stopień uszkodzenia badanego mięśnia. Celem niniejszej publikacji jest wprowadzenie w dziedzinę elektromiografii klinicznej oraz uporządkowanie medycznych pojęć związanych z badaniami elektromiograficznymi w kontekście inżynierskim, pozwalające na stworzenie niezbędnej płaszczyzny łączącej krajowe środowiska medyczne i techniczne.Electromyography (EMG) is a functional examination which plays a fundamental role in diagnostics of muscles and nerves diseases. The method allows us for distinction between records of healthy muscle and a changed one as well as for determination whether pathological changes are of primary myogenic or neurogenic character. Statistical processing of electromyography examination performed in the time domain ensures mostly correct classification of pathology without determination of a disease progression. However, because of an ambiguity of temporal parameters definitions, a diagnosis can include a significant error which depends strongly on physician experience. So far, medical practice imposes, as a consensus, registration of at least 20 different functional potentials of motor units belonging to one muscle. Then, selected temporal parameters (presented in the paper) are determined for each run and their mean values are calculated. In the final stage these mean the values are compared with a standard and, including also additional clinical information, a diagnosis is given. A final effect of the first research stage was development of a definition for single point discriminant directly enabling a unique diagnosis to be made. An essential advantage of the suggested discriminant is a precise and algorithmically realized definition which enables an objective comparison of examination results obtained by physicians with different experience and working in different research centers. So, the definition fulfils a fundamental criterion for the parameter used for standard preparation. A suggestion of the standard for selected muscle is presented in the last part of the paper. The aim of next studies is a definition of standards which could allow a unique classification of myogenic, neurogenic, and normal cases for a large group of muscles based on a more numerous population. Currently, the authors are working on implementation of suggested procedures into diagnostic software that could be compatible with Viking IV D system developed by the Nicolet BioMedical Inc. The secondary purpose of the paper is a systematization of medical concepts related to electromyography examinations in the engineering context. The systematization should create a useful platform connecting domestic medical and technical societies

Fall Detector Using Discrete Wavelet Decomposition And SVM Classifier

This paper presents the design process and the results of a novel fall detector designed and constructed at the Faculty of Electronics, Military University of Technology. High sensitivity and low false alarm rates were achieved by using four independent sensors of varying physical quantities and sophisticated methods of signal processing and data mining. The manuscript discusses the study background, hardware development, alternative algorithms used for the sensor data processing and fusion for identification of the most efficient solution and the final results from testing the Android application on smartphone. The test was performed in four 6-h sessions (two sessions with female participants at the age of 28 years, one session with male participants aged 28 years and one involving a man at the age of 49 years) and showed correct detection of all 40 simulated falls with only three false alarms. Our results confirmed the sensitivity of the proposed algorithm to be 100% with a nominal false alarm rate (one false alarm per 8 h)

Diagnose of muscle condition on the basis of mup spectral analysis

Statystyczne opracowanie wyników badania elektromiograficznego zapewnia w większości przypadków prawidłową klasyfikację patologii bez określenia stopnia ciężkości choroby. Celem rozpoczętych badań jest stworzenie aplikacji, która wykorzystując specjalnie opracowane algorytmy cyfrowego przetwarzania sygnałów, w sposób automatyczny i jednoznaczny wyznaczy rodzaj patologii oraz - być może - stopień uszkodzenia badanego mięśnia. Drugim celem publikacji jest uporządkowanie medycznych pojęć związanych z badaniami elektromiograficznymi w kontekście inżynierskim, co pozwoli ukonstytuować niezbędną płaszczyznę łączącą środowiska medyczne i techniczne.The statistical study of the electromyography examination results, secure in most cases the correct classification of pathology without a grade of disease qualification. The aim of beginning works is to create an application, which applies dedicated digital signal processing algorithms, automatically and unambiguously determine the kind of pathology and perhaps the grade of disease. Another aim of this paper is to clarify medical concepts connected with electromyography examination in an engineering context. This allows us to form essential common ground linked to medical and technical environments

Multiresolution analysis and Support Vector Machine for motor unit classification

W artykule przedstawiono nową metodę diagnozowania chorób nerwowo-mięśniowych opartą na analizie skalogramów wyznaczonych za pomocą falek Symlet 4. Z otrzymanych skalogramów wyekstrahowano 5 cech, które po analizie w sieciach SVM sprowadzono do pojedynczego parametru klasyfikującego analizowane przypadki do grupy miogennej, neurogennej i prawidłowej. Implementacja programowa metody stworzyła narzędzie diagnostyczne wspomagające badanie EMG o bardzo wysokim prawdopodobieństwie prawidłowej oceny stanu mięśnia (błąd całkowity wyniósł 0,66% - dwie błędne klasyfikacje na 300 badanych pacjentów).The paper presents a new approach to the computer aided diagnostic systems for the needs of quantitative electromyography. The approach is based on the analysis of wavelet scalograms of the motor unit action potentials calculated on the basis of 4th order Symlet wavelet. The scalograms provide the vector consisting of five features describing the state of a muscle. The vectors serve to carry out a classification of pathology by using Support Vector Machine method. The QEMG examination consists of the insertion of a needle electrode into a muscle and a registration of muscle potentials during low effort. Registered potentials are called motor unit action potentials (MUAPs). A diagnosis is usually preceded by a statistical analysis of a MUAP shape. An inconvenience of this procedure in a clinical practice is caused by high time- consumption arising, among others, from the necessity of determination of many parameters, usually between 4 and 7. Additionally, an ambiguity in determination of basic temporal parameters can cause doubts during comparison of parameters found by the physician with standard ones determined in other research centre, which mostly uses equipment of older generation. Measurement results on diagnostic method deprived of above - mentioned disadvantages are described in the paper. The aim of our work was a development of new methods for transformation of action potential signals observed in EMG records for healthy muscles and changed ones. The multiresolution decomposition method was devoted to determination of a vector of characteristic features of signals corresponding to analyzed categories. Then, this vector was used for effective recognition of these categories using linear Support Vector Machine technique. The final effect of research is development of a definition for numerical classificator directly enabling a unique diagnosis to be made. An essential advantage of the suggested classificator is a precise and algorithmically realized definition which enables an objective comparison of examination results obtained by physicians with different experience and working in different research centres. The presented diagnostic method ensures significantly better distinction between pathological and healthy cases as compared to methods using traditional parameters defined in time and frequency domains. Sensitivity of the wavelet method, for 100% specificity, amounts to 100% for myogenic and to 97% for neurogenic pathological states

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in Occupational Medicine Practice

Work-related overload syndromes are chiefly associated with the upper limbs, where carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) plays a leading role. This article analyses methods of diagnosing CTS, with special emphasis on those that can be used by physicians in early diagnosis of CTS in workers doing monotonous work. It also discusses occupational (e.g., assembly work, typing, playing instruments, packaging and work associated with the use of a hammer or pruning scissors) and extra-occupational factors (e.g., post-traumatic deformation of bone elements of the carpal tunnel, degenerative and inflammatory changes in tendon sheaths, connective tissue hypertrophy or formation of crystal deposits) leading to CTS; diagnostic methods (subjective symptoms, physical examination, manual provocative tests, vibration perception threshold, electrophysiological examination and imaging methods); and therapeutic and preventive management tools accessible in occupational medicine practice