TECHNIQUES FOR PREDICTION AND MONITORING OF COUGHING-MANIFESTED CLINICAL EPISODES

• US 20110015535A1
• Filed: 07/23/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EarlySense Ltd.
• Inventors: GROSS, Yosef, LANGE, Daniel H., HALPERIN, Avner
• Granted Patent: US 8,517,953 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/534
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0823 Detecting or evaluating cough events
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/113 occurring during breathing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4094 Diagnosing or monitoring seizure diseases, e.g. epilepsy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A method is provided for predicting an onset of a clinical episode, the method including sensing breathing of a subject, determining at least one breathing pattern of the subject responsively to the sensed breathing, comparing the breathing pattern with a baseline breathing pattern, and predicting the onset of the episode at least in part responsively to the comparison. Other embodiments are also described.

Claims

1-78. -78. (canceled)

79. Apparatus comprising:

a sensor configured to sense coughing of a subject and generate a coughing signal responsively thereto;

a sensor configured to sense breathing of the subject and generate a breathing signal responsively thereto; and

a control unit configured to;

receive the coughing signal;

receive the breathing signal;

determine a breathing rate of the subject responsively to the breathing signal; and

at least in part responsively to the coughing signal and at least in part responsively to the breathing rate, monitor a condition of the subject selected from the group consisting of;

asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), cystic fibrosis (CF), and epilepsy.

80. The apparatus according to claim 79, wherein the control unit is configured to assess a progression of an episode of the condition.

81. The apparatus according to claim 79, wherein the sensor configured to sense coughing is selected from the group consisting of:

an acoustic sensor configured to sense a sound caused by the coughing and a mechanical vibration sensor configured to sense mechanical vibrations caused by the coughing.

82. The apparatus according to claim 79, wherein the sensor configured to sense coughing is configured to sense the coughing without contacting the subject or clothes the subject is wearing.

83. The apparatus according to claim 79, wherein the sensor configured to sense coughing is configured to sense the coughing without requiring subject compliance during the sensing.

84. The apparatus according to claim 79, wherein the control unit is configured to:

determine at least one coughing pattern of the subject responsively to the coughing signal,

compare the coughing pattern with a baseline coughing pattern, and

monitor the condition at least in part responsively to the comparison.

85. (canceled)

86. Apparatus comprising:

a sensor configured to sense coughing of a subject and generate a signal responsively thereto; and

a control unit configured to;

receive the signal, and

at least in part responsively to the signal, predict an onset of an episode selected from the group consisting of;

asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), cystic fibrosis (CF), and epilepsy.

87. The apparatus according to claim 86, wherein the sensor is selected from the group consisting of:

an acoustic sensor configured to sense a sound caused by the coughing and a mechanical vibration sensor configured to sense mechanical vibrations caused by the coughing.

88. The apparatus according to claim 86, wherein the sensor is configured to sense the coughing without contacting the subject or clothes the subject is wearing.

89. The apparatus according to claim 86, wherein the sensor is configured to sense the coughing without requiring subject compliance during the sensing.

90. The apparatus according to claim 86, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

determine at least one pattern of the subject at least in part responsively to the signal,

compare the pattern with a baseline pattern, and

predict the onset of the episode at least in part responsively to the comparison.

91. The apparatus according to claim 86, further comprising a sensor configured to sense breathing of the subject and generate a breathing signal responsively thereto;

wherein the control unit is further configured to;

receive the breathing signal,

determine a breathing rate of the subject responsively to the breathing signal, and

predict the onset of the episode at least in part further responsively to the breathing rate.

92. A method comprising:

sensing coughing of a subject with a sensor;

sensing breathing of the subject with a sensor;

with a control unit, determining a breathing rate of the subject responsively to the sensed breathing; and

with the control unit, monitoring a condition of the subject selected from the group consisting of;

asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), cystic fibrosis (CF), and epilepsy at least in part responsively to the sensed coughing and at least in part responsively to the sensed breathing.

93. The method according to claim 92, wherein monitoring the condition comprises assessing a progression of an episode of the condition.

94. The method according to claim 92, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing at least one type of coughing-related mechanical vibration selected from the group consisting of:

a sound caused by coughing and mechanical vibrations caused by coughing.

95. The method according to claim 92, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing coughing without contacting the subject or clothes the subject is wearing.

96. The method according to claim 92, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing coughing without requiring subject compliance during sensing.

97. The method according to claim 92, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing coughing while the subject is sleeping.

98. The method according to claim 92, wherein monitoring the condition comprises:

determining at least one coughing pattern of the subject responsively to the sensed coughing;

comparing the coughing pattern with a baseline coughing pattern; and

monitoring the condition at least in part responsively to the comparison.

99. (canceled)

100. A method comprising:

sensing coughing of a subject with a sensor; and

at least in part responsively to the sensed coughing, predicting with a control unit an onset of an episode selected from the group consisting of;

asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), cystic fibrosis (CF), and epilepsy.

101. The method according to claim 100, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing at least one type of coughing-related mechanical vibration selected from the group consisting of:

a sound caused by coughing and mechanical vibrations caused by coughing.

102. The method according to claim 100, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing coughing without contacting the subject or clothes the subject is wearing.

103. The method according to claim 100, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing coughing without requiring subject compliance during sensing.

104. The method according to claim 100, wherein sensing coughing comprises sensing coughing while the subject is sleeping.

105. The method according to claim 100, wherein predicting the onset of the episode comprises:

determining at least one pattern of the subject at least on part responsively to the sensed coughing;

comparing the pattern with a baseline pattern; and

predicting the onset of the episode at least in part responsively to the comparison.

106. The method according to claim 100, wherein predicting the onset of the episode comprises:

sensing breathing of the subject with a breathing sensor;

determining a breathing rate of the subject responsively to the sensed breathing; and

predicting the onset of the episode at least in part responsively to the breathing rate and at least in part responsively to the sensed coughing.