METHODS AND DEVICES OF CARDAIC TISSUE MONITORING AND ANALYSIS

• US 20100056907A1
• Filed: 08/20/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sensible Medical Innovations Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Sensible Medical Innovations Ltd.
• Inventors: RAPPAPORT, Dan, BERGIDA, Shlomi, KOCHBA, Ilan, MIZRAHI, Nadav, SAROKA, Amir
• Granted Patent: US 10,667,715 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/425
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/05 Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves impedance plethysmography A61B5/0295; measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0507 using microwaves or terahertz waves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/25 Bioelectric electrodes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/366 Detecting abnormal QRS complex, e.g. widening

Abstract

A method for monitoring at least one cardiac tissue. The method comprises a) intercepting a plurality of reflections of an electromagnetic (EM) radiation reflected from at least one cardiac tissue of a patient in a plurality of EM radiation sessions, b) computing a mechanical tracing indicative of at least one mechanical property of said at least one cardiac tissue according to said plurality of reflections, c) analyzing said mechanical tracing so as to detect a presence or an absence of a physiological condition, and d) outputting said analysis.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring at least one cardiac tissue, comprising:

a) intercepting a plurality of reflections of an electromagnetic (EM) radiation reflected from at least one cardiac tissue of a patient in a plurality of EM radiation sessions;

b) computing a mechanical tracing indicative of at least one mechanical property of said at least one cardiac tissue according to said plurality of reflections;

c) analyzing said mechanical tracing so as to detect a presence or an absence of a physiological condition; and

d) outputting said analysis.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said intercepting is performed during a period of at least 6 hours.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said mechanical property comprises a member of a group consisting of motion velocity, motion acceleration, contractility, a length of a heart contraction and a pulsation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said analyzing comprises matching said mechanical tracing to a temporal model.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing comprises calculating a velocity of said at least one cardiac tissue according to a local deviation between signals generated according to EM reflections in first and second periods.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a cardioelectric tracing captured during said intercepting and combining between said cardioelectric tracing and said mechanical tracing to compute at least one electromechanical property of said at least one cardiac tissue, and said analyzing being performed according to said at least one electromechanical property.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing comprises registering said mechanical tracing according to a movement of at least one of said patient and an organ of said patient.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing comprises adjusting said mechanical tracing according to a blood saturation level of said patient.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing comprises adjusting said mechanical tracing according to a motion of an additional body tissue of said patient.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing comprises registering said mechanical tracing according to a posture of said patient.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the patient is an ambulatory patient.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said intercepting is performed during a period of at least 24 hours.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said physiological condition is a cardiac pathological condition.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said outputting comprises presenting said physiological condition to said patient.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said outputting comprises forwarding a notification indicative of said physiological condition to a remote medical center.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of EM radiations are intermittently transmitted during a period selected according to at least one of an activity of said patient and a vital sign of said patient.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing said a)-c) for an additional cardiac tissue so as to compute an additional mechanical tracing of at least one mechanical property of said at least one cardiac tissue and matching between said mechanical tracing and said additional mechanical tracing to estimate a synchrony between a contractility of said at least one cardiac tissue and a contractility of said additional cardiac tissue.

18. A method for monitoring at least one cardiac tissue, comprising:

a) computing a mechanical tracing of at least one mechanical property of at least one cardiac tissue of a heart of a patient according to electromagnetic (EM) radiation reflected therefrom during a period;

b) receiving a cardioelectric tracing generated by measuring an electrical activity of said heart during said period;

c) calculating at least one electromechanical property of said heart according to a relationship between said mechanical tracing and said cardioelectric tracing;

d) automatically analyzing said at least one electromechanical property so as to detect a presence or an absence of a physiological condition during said period; and

e) outputting said analysis.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said mechanical property comprises a length of a cardiac cycle of said heart and said cardioelectric tracing comprises a QT interval of a respective of said cardioelectric tracing, said at least one electromechanical property being a relationship between said length and said QT interval.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said period lasts at least 6 hours.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein said mechanical property comprises a number of heart contractions per cardiac cycle.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein said mechanical property comprises an electromechanical delay between an electrical activation of said at least one cardiac tissue and a respective mechanical activation of said at least one cardiac tissue during at least one cardiac cycle.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein said calculating comprises temporally correlating between said mechanical tracing and said cardioelectric tracing.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein said mechanical property comprises a relationship between a mechanical onset and an electric onset during at least one cardiac cycle.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein said mechanical property comprises an efficacy of a pacemaker.

32. The wearable monitoring apparatus of claim 24 wherein said at least one transducer comprises a plurality of transducers each configured for intercepting said at least one reflection from a different position on the body of said patient, said processing unit being configured for generating a spatial motion vector of said heart by analyzing said at least one reflection from each said transducer and identifying said at least one physiological condition according to said spatial motion vector.

33. The wearable monitoring apparatus of claim 24 further comprising an additional transducer mounted to intercept said additional reflection of EM radiation from an additional cardiac tissue, said processing unit being configured for generating an additional mechanical tracing of at least one mechanical property of said additional cardiac tissue and identifying a synchrony between said additional cardiac tissue and said cardiac tissue accordingly, said physiological condition being identified according to said synchrony.

26. A wearable monitoring apparatus for monitoring at least one cardiac tissue, comprising:

at least one transducer configured for intercepting at least one reflection of electromagnetic (EM) radiation from at least one cardiac tissue of a heart of an ambulatory patient;

a processing unit configured for generating a mechanical tracing of at least one mechanical property of said at least one cardiac tissue by analyzing said at least one reflection so as to allow the identifying of at least one physiological condition;

an output unit configured for outputting said analysis; and

a housing for containing said at least one transducer, said processing unit, and said output unit, said housing being configured for being disposed on the body of said ambulatory patient.

27. The wearable monitoring apparatus of claim 26, further comprising an cardioelectric sensor for measuring at least one electrical signal from heart, said processing unit configured for computing an electrical tracing based on said at least on electrical signal, calculating at least one electromechanical property of said heart according to a relationship between said mechanical tracing and said cardioelectric tracing, and identifying said at least one physiological condition according to said at least one electromechanical property.

28. The wearable monitoring apparatus of claim 27, wherein said housing contains said cardioelectric sensor.

29. The wearable monitoring apparatus of claim 27, wherein said cardioelectric sensor having a plurality of leads;

wherein at least one of said plurality of leads is configured for being separately disposed on the body.

30. The wearable monitoring apparatus of claim 26, further comprising an additional sensor for measuring a vital sign of said ambulatory patient said processing unit configured for performing said identification according to said vital sign.

31. The wearable monitoring apparatus of claim 30, wherein said additional sensor is a member of a group consisting of:

a temperature sensor, a blood pressure transducer, a fluid rate recording transducer, and an echo-cardiographic sensor.

34. A method for positioning a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) leads, comprising:

a) computing a mechanical tracing of at least one mechanical property of at least one cardiac tissue of a heart according to at least one reflection of electromagnetic (EM) radiation therefrom and a cardioelectric tracing generated by measuring an electrical activity of said heart;

b) placing at least one cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) lead in a first location on the surface of said heart;

c) calculating at least one electromechanical property of said heart according to a relationship between said mechanical tracing and said cardioelectric tracing;

d) estimating the efficacy of said at least one CRT lead in said first location according to said at least one electromechanical property; and

e) repositioning or fixating said at least one CRT lead according to said estimating.