System and Method for Determining the Blood Pressure of a Patient

• US 20080287814A1
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Lanfermann, Gerd, Such, Olaf, Aubert, Xavier, Muehsteff, Jens
• Granted Patent: US 8,277,387 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/490
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0261 using hydrostatic pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0245 by using sensing means generating electric signals, i.e. ECG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

In order to provide a technique for determining high-quality blood pressure values of a patient, especially in cases of unsupervised blood pressure measurements in a home environment, it is suggested to use a system (1) for determining the blood pressure of a patient (2) comprising a blood pressure measuring device (3, 4) for measuring a blood pressure value, an auxiliary device (6, 7, 8, 9) for measuring the motor activity of the patient (2) during a defined period of time prior to the blood pressure measurement, and a processing device (13, 14), said processing device (13, 14) being adapted to obtain the motor activity information and the blood pressure value, said processing device (13, 14) being further adapted to automatically assess the blood pressure value using the motor activity information, and said processing device (13, 14) being further adapted to provide a measuring result depending on the result of the assessment.

Claims

1. A system (1) for determining the blood pressure of a patient (2), comprising

a blood pressure measuring device (3, 4) for measuring a blood pressure value,

an auxiliary device (6, 7, 8, 9) for measuring the motor activity of the patient (2) during a defined period of time prior to the blood pressure measurement, and

a processing device (13, 14), said processing device (13, 14) being adapted to obtain the motor activity information and the blood pressure value, said processing device (13, 14) being further adapted to automatically assess the blood pressure value using the motor activity information, and said processing device (13, 14) being further adapted to provide a measuring result depending on the result of the assessment.

2. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the auxiliary device (3, 4) is adapted to measure the motor activity of the patient (2) during the blood pressure measurement.

3. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the processing device (13, 14) is adapted to provide a measuring result in form of a corrected blood pressure value.

4. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the processing device (13, 14) is adapted to provide a measuring result in form of a blood pressure value with a confidence interval.

5. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the processing device (13, 14) is adapted to provide a measuring result in form of a signal to the patient (2) requesting the patient (2) to repeat the blood pressure measurement.

6. The system (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a number of additional auxiliary devices, said additional auxiliary devices being adapted to provide additional measuring-related information which has been obtained before and/or during the blood pressure measurement, and the processing device (13, 14) being adapted to obtain at least one additional piece of measuring-related information for assessing the blood pressure value.

7. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for measuring ECG data of the patient (2).

8. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for measuring the galvanic skin response of the patient (2).

9. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for measuring the patient'"'"'s (2) silence.

10. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for measuring the patient'"'"'s (2) posture.

11. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for obtaining the sex and/or age of the patient (2).

12. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for obtaining the history of blood pressure measurements of the patient (2).

13. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for measuring the ambient temperature during the blood pressure measurement.

14. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for measuring the ambient sound intensity.

15. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for obtaining the time of day.

16. The system (1) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a device for obtaining weather data.

17. A method of determining the blood pressure of a patient (2), comprising the steps of:

measuring the motor activity of the patient (2) during a defined period of time prior to a blood pressure measurement,

measuring the blood pressure value,

automatically assessing the blood pressure value using the motor activity information, and

providing a measuring result depending on the result of the assessment.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, characterized in that measuring the motor activity of the patient (2) is performed during the blood pressure measurement.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, characterized in that the assessing of the blood pressure value is performed using a number of additional measuring-related pieces of information, which have been obtained before and/or during the blood pressure measurement.

20. A computer program (13) for determining the blood pressure of a patient (2), the program (13) comprising:

computer instructions to automatically assess a measured blood pressure value using motor activity information of the patient (2), said motor activity information being obtained during a defined period of time prior to a blood pressure measurement, and

computer instructions to provide a measuring result depending on the result of the assessment,

when the computer program (13) is executed in a computer (14).