Method for reducing artifacts in a spatial measurement

• US 6,878,119 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2002
• Issued: 04/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Huntleigh Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: KCI Licensing Incorporated (3M Company)
• Inventors: Johnson, Royce
• Primary Examiner(s): Hindenburg, Max F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FOREMAN, JONATHAN M
• Application Number:
  US10/197,139
• Publication Number:
  US 20020183650A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 600/480, 600/485, 600/500, 600/561, 600/587, 600/595, 128/920, 128/925
• US Class Current: 600/561
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/031 Intracranial pressure
• 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: Y10S 128/925 Neural network

Abstract

A method for artifact reduction in sonomicrometer obtained intracranial pressure measurements generally comprises isolating a component of a sonomicrometer waveform attributable solely to changes in intracranial volume by using a neural network or other nonlinear engine to extract a heartbeat component from the sonomicrometer output. Because the heartbeat is so characteristic, no actual measurement of the heartbeat as the forcing function is required to isolate the resulting changes in distance from the artifact induced changes in distance. The neural network then be utilized to directly map measured changes in skull distance over time to changes in intracranial pressure over a volume change, the inverse of compliance. The method is generally extendable to use with other volumetric based measurement techniques.

Claims

1. A method of artifact reduction in intracranial pressure measurements comprising isolating the change in distance attributable to changes in intracranial volume by extracting a heartbeat component from the measurements utilizing a neural network to map measured changes in skull distance over time.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein changes in intracranial pressure over time are compared to changes in skull distance.

3. A method of artifact reduction in a spatial measurement of a cranium, comprising the steps of:

isolating a first component of the spatial measurement from a second, artifact-induced component of the spatial measurement by extracting components of the spatial measurement that correspond to a heart beat waveform; and

mapping measured changes in skull distance over time to changes in intracranial pressure over a volume change.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a neural network is used to isolate the first component from the second, artifact-induced component.