Patient monitoring system
First Claim
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1. A system for analyzing patient airflow to determine and score abnormal sleep events, comprising:
- at least one sensor for sensing the airflow of a patient;
input means for receiving a time varying analog airflow signal from the at least one sensor wherein the analog airflow signal corresponds to the respiration of the patient and has a number of successive start of inspiration portions, peak of inspiration portions, expiration portions, and end of expiration portions;
said input means digitizing the analog airflow signal thereby providing a digitized airflow signal;
clock means for providing a digital clock signal to correlate the digitized airflow signal with time;
receiving means for receiving the digitized airflow signal and the digital clock signal;
determining means, coupled to said receiving means, for determining a delay in the respiration of the patient; and
wherein said determining means determines the portions of the digitized airflow signal that correspond to the successive peak of inspiration portions and the corresponding successive start of inspiration portions, wherein an apnea interval is defined as the time between a valid peak of inspiration portion and the next succeeding start of inspiration portion;
said determining means determining which of the number of apnea intervals are longer than a predetermined apnea threshold, thereby indicating an apnea event.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing scoring analysis of the pathological sleep events of apnea, hypopnea and desaturation of a patient from a sampled data set of only three sensor signals, namely, airflow, heart rate and oxygen saturation. The data source is either currently sensed data or previously recorded data. A microprocessor provides the display, printing, input and output channels, operator interface and computation capability for the system. Specialized programs direct the analysis and operation thereof.
111 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for analyzing patient airflow to determine and score abnormal sleep events, comprising:
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at least one sensor for sensing the airflow of a patient; input means for receiving a time varying analog airflow signal from the at least one sensor wherein the analog airflow signal corresponds to the respiration of the patient and has a number of successive start of inspiration portions, peak of inspiration portions, expiration portions, and end of expiration portions;
said input means digitizing the analog airflow signal thereby providing a digitized airflow signal;clock means for providing a digital clock signal to correlate the digitized airflow signal with time; receiving means for receiving the digitized airflow signal and the digital clock signal; determining means, coupled to said receiving means, for determining a delay in the respiration of the patient; and wherein said determining means determines the portions of the digitized airflow signal that correspond to the successive peak of inspiration portions and the corresponding successive start of inspiration portions, wherein an apnea interval is defined as the time between a valid peak of inspiration portion and the next succeeding start of inspiration portion;
said determining means determining which of the number of apnea intervals are longer than a predetermined apnea threshold, thereby indicating an apnea event. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for analyzing patient airflow to determine and score abnormal sleep events, comprising the steps of:
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inputing a time varying analog airflow signal from at least one sensor that is sensing the airflow of a patient wherein the analog airflow signal corresponds to the respiration of the patient and has a number of successive start of inspiration portions, peak of inspiration portions, expiration portions, and end of expiration portions;
said inputing step digitizing the analog airflow signal thereby providing a digitized airflow signal;providing a digital clock signal to correlate the digitized airflow signal with time; receiving the digitized airflow signal and the digital clock signal; determining the respiration of the patient from the digitized airflow signal by determining a delay in the respiration of the patient; and wherein said determining step determines the portions of the digitized airflow signal that correspond to the successive peak of inspiration portions and the corresponding successive start of inspiration portions, wherein an apnea interval is defined as the time between a valid peak of inspiration portion and the next succeeding start of inspiration portion;
said determining step determining which of the number of apnea intervals are longer than a predetermined apnea threshold, thereby indicating an apnea event. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification