Wireless health monitoring in the setting of X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging and other sources of electromagnetic interference

• US 20160058301A1
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vladimir Shusterman
• Original Assignee: Vladimir Shusterman
• Inventors: Shusterman, Vladimir
• Granted Patent: US 9,610,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0263 using NMR
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7203 for noise prevention, reduction or removal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7225 Details of analog processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation A61B5/30, A61B5/316 take precedence; transformers for specific applications H01F38/00; amplifiers H03F

Abstract

This multipurpose, modular system provides diagnostic-quality, wireless, multichannel monitoring in diverse settings, including interventional procedures guided by X-ray and MRI, with variable electromagnetic interference (EMI) and eliminates the need for multiple detachments/reattachments of patient cables when the patient is moved from one room/procedure to another. The system includes: 1) multiple filterbanks (filtering procedures) for recording both diagnostic-quality (broad-band) signals in the absence of EMI and narrow-band signals in the presence of EMI, with subsequent reconstruction of diagnostic-quality signals from the narrow-band signals; 2) filtering of EMI, using a priori and adaptive criteria about differences between the EMI and physiological signals'"'"' characteristics; 3) filtering of the magneto-hydrodynamic effect, using physiological measurements at different distances from the magnet (i.e., at different strengths of magnetic field) and changes in blood flow and blood pressure; and 4) multiple wireless transmitters for increasing reliability and speed (throughput) of the wireless data transmission.

Claims

1. A system adapted for physiological monitoring comprising:

at least two sensors for collecting at least two signals of an individual'"'"'s health data by substantially continuous monitoring said health data;

at least one communication module for receiving and transmitting wirelessly said at least two signals of an individual'"'"'s health data; and

at least one processing module that utilizes the electrodes, associated cables/electronic circuitry and body of a monitored subject as a receiving antenna and circuitry for detecting, filtering and analyzing features and patterns of electromagnetic interference.

2. A system as set forth in claim 1 in which said processing module utilizes at least one a priori known difference of the physiological signal characteristics and EMI, selected from differences in time-domain features, amplitude, derivatives, waveform patterns, frequency-domain features, frequency range, and dominant frequency.

3. A system as set forth in claim 2 in which said processing module utilizes adjustments of said at least one a priori known difference of the physiological signals and EMI characteristics using at least two measurements performed at different strengths of magnetic field, in the presence and absence of working MR-gradients.

4. A system as set forth in claim 1 in which said processing module utilizes at least two measurements of at least one signal selected from blood flow and blood pressure to estimate changes in the magneto-hydrodynamic effect.

5. A system as set forth in claim 1 which includes at least two wireless transmitters.

6. A system as set forth in claim 1 in which said processing module has the capability of detecting gradient magnetic fields based on at least one signal feature selected from signal magnitude, area, integral, time derivative and waveform pattern of a signal selected from an electrophysiological signal, electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, and electromyogram.

7. A system as set forth in claim 1, which further includes parallel filterbanks.

8. A system as set forth in claim 1, which further includes switchable filterbanks.

9. A system as set forth in claim 8 in which said switchable filterbanks are selected from at least one electronic, mechanical and programmable switch.

10. A system as set forth in claim 1, which further includes at least one signal processing operation for signal conditioning and filtering electromagnetic interference selected from bitwise shift operations, voltage division, voltage multiplication, pattern recognition, template matching and wavelet-based filtering tailored to the time-domain characteristics and/or patterns of the GMF-signals.

11. A system adapted for physiological monitoring comprising:

at least two sensors for collecting at least two signals of an individual'"'"'s health data by substantially continuous monitoring said health data;

at least one module for receiving and transmitting wirelessly said at least two signals of an individual'"'"'s health data, using at least two wireless transmitters; and

said at least one module is adapted to use at least one time marker signal for synchronizing said at least two signals collected by said at least two wireless transmitters.

12. A system as set forth in claim 11 in which said wireless transmitters are selected from Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, infrared, and other types of wireless transmitters.

13. A system as set forth in claim 11 in which said wireless transmitters are arranged in at least one type of operation selected from synchronous, asynchronous, parallel and independent transmission.

14. A system as set forth in claim 11 in which said at least two wireless transmitters operate on two different frequencies.

15. A system as set forth in claim 11 in which at least one of said at least two wireless transmitters serves as a primary transmitter and at least one of said at least two wireless transmitters serves as a backup transmitter for said primary transmitter.

16. A method adapted for physiological monitoring comprising:

collecting at least two signals of an individual'"'"'s health data by substantially continuous monitoring said health data;

receiving and transmitting wirelessly said at least two signals of an individual'"'"'s health data; and

utilizing electrodes, associated cables/electronic circuitry and body of a monitored subject as a receiving antenna and circuitry for detecting, filtering and analyzing features and patterns of electromagnetic interference.

17. A method as set forth in claim 16, which further includes conditioning and filtering at least one of said at least two signals for electromagnetic interference using a processing operation selected from bitwise shift operations, voltage division, voltage multiplication, pattern recognition, template matching and wavelet-based filtering tailored to the time-domain characteristics and/or patterns of the GMF-signals.

18. A method as set forth in claim 16 which includes detecting gradient magnetic fields based on at least one signal feature selected from signal magnitude, time derivative, area, integral and waveform pattern of a signal selected from an electrophysiological signal, electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, and electromyogram.

19. A method as set forth in claim 16, which further includes estimating the magnitude of the magneto-hydrodynamic effect based on changes in at least one of said at least two signals selected from blood pressure, arterial pressure wave and blood flow.

20. A method as set forth in claim 19, in which at least one of said at least two signals is obtained using at least one measurement selected from the MR-based measurements of blood flow, arterial pressure waves and/or blood volume, intra-arterial blood pressure, intra-cardiac blood pressure, venous blood pressure, noninvasively measured blood pressure, photoplethysmography, plethysmography, electrical impedance, pulse oximetry, accelerometry, acoustic waves, ultrasound, infrared and other optical, mechanical and electrical signals obtained from subject'"'"'s body.