MEDICAL TELEMETRY SYSTEM

• US 20080004538A1
• Filed: 06/13/2007
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Virtanen, Juha
• Application Number:
  US11/762,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20080004538A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/509
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/045 with a separable interface unit, e.g. for communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/276 Protection against electrode failure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/28 for electrocardiography [ECG]

Abstract

A medical telemetry system and a method for signaling leads-off information in a medical telemetry system. The medical telemetry system according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a sensor unit comprising ECG electrodes connected to a transmitter unit, and a receiver unit connectable to ECG input connector on a patient monitor. The ECG signal and leads-off state of the electrodes are transmitted from the sensor unit to the receiver unit using radio-wave communication. Leads-off information detected by the sensor unit is transmitted to the patient monitor and signaled by feeding a predefined low-impedance DC-voltage to the ECG signal port.

Claims

1. A medical telemetry system, the system comprising:

a patient monitor comprising an ECG input connector and a signal port;

a sensor unit in proximity with the patient further comprising a transmitter unit and ECG electrodes to be attached on a patient and to be connected to the transmitter unit;

a receiver unit connected to ECG input connector on a patient monitor, and configured to receive ECG signal and leads-off state information via wireless radio-wave communication from the transmitter unit, and configured to feed a reconstructed ECG signal to the input connector of the patient monitor; and

a signaling unit for signaling leads-off information to the patient monitor by feeding a predefined DC-voltage to the ECG signal port.

2. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein the output impedance of the receiver unit is configured to remain constant when changing over from normal operation to leads-off state.

3. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein said receiver unit is further configured to detect radio wave disconnection state.

4. The medical telemetry system according to claim 3, wherein said receiver further comprises:

signaling unit for signaling radio wave disconnection state information to the patient monitor by feeding a predefined DC-voltage to the ECG signal port.

5. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein the output impedance of the receiver unit is less than 100E6 ohms.

6. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein the output voltage of the receiver unit in leads-off state is greater than 1 V.

7. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein said transmitter unit comprises an impedance measurement circuit configured to detect the leads-off state.

8. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein said system further comprises an indicator configured to indicate the leads-off state to a user of the system.

9. The medical telemetry system according to claim 3, wherein the receiver unit further comprises:

an indicator configured to indicate the radio wave disconnection state to a user of the medical telemetry system.

10. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein said transmitter unit and said receiver unit are arranged to be paired so as to be interchangeably connected to each other.

11. The medical telemetry system according to claim 1, wherein said transmitter unit is further configured to detect a pacemaker in the said ECG signal.

12. The medical telemetry system according to claim 11, wherein sharp voltage spikes are arranged to be superimposed on the reconstructed ECG signal in order to transmit a pacemaker peak timing information to the monitor.

13. The medical telemetry system according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the leads-off state information and the radio wave disconnection state information is arranged to activate the feeding of the DC-voltage to the ECG signal port.

14. A method for signaling leads-off information in a medical telemetry system, the method comprising:

arranging a sensor unit in proximity with a patient, the sensor unit comprising a transmitter unit and ECG electrodes to be attached on a patient and to be connected to the transmitter unit;

receiving by a receiver unit connected to ECG input connector on a patient monitor comprising an ECG signal port, ECG signal and leads-off information via wireless radio-wave communication;

feeding by said receiver unit a reconstructed ECG signal to an input connector of the patient monitor; and

signaling the leads-off information to the ECG monitor by feeding a predefined DC-voltage to the ECG signal port.

15. The method for signaling leads-off information in a medical telemetry system according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises the step:

arranging the output impedance of the receiver unit to remain constant when changing over from normal operation to leads-off state.

16. The method for signaling leads-off information in a medical telemetry system according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises the step:

detecting a radio wave disconnection state by said receiver unit.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the method further comprises the step:

signaling said radio wave disconnection state information to the patient monitor by feeding a predefined DC-voltage to the ECG signal port.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

adjusting the output impedance of the receiver unit to less than 100E6 ohms.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

adjusting the output voltage of the receiver unit in leads-off state to greater than 1 V.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting the leads-off state by an impedance measurement circuit in said transmitter unit.

21. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

indicating by an indicator of said system the leads-off state to a user of the system.

22. The method according to claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

indicating by an indicator of said receiver unit the radio wave disconnection state to a user of the medical telemetry system.

23. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

pairing said transmitter unit and said receiver unit so as to be interchangeably connected to each other.

24. The method according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting a pacemaker from the ECG signal by said transmitter unit.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the method further comprises:

superimposing sharp voltage spikes on the reconstructed ECG signal in order to transmit a pacemaker peak timing information to the monitor.

26. The method according to claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

activating the feeding of the DC-voltage to the ECG signal port by at least one of the leads-off information and the radio wave disconnection information.