System and method for determining the blood pressure of a patient

• US 8,277,387 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Muehlsteff, Jens, Lanfermann, Gerd, Aubert, Xavier, Such, Olaf
• Primary Examiner(s): Marmor, II, Charles A
• Assistant Examiner(s): D'ANGELO, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US12/091,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20080287814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,181 Days
• Field of Search: 600/481, 600/483, 600/485, 600/490
• US Class Current: 600/490
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0261 using hydrostatic pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0245 by using sensing means generating electric signals, i.e. ECG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

In order to provide a technique for determining high-quality blood pressure values of a patient, especially in cases of unsupervised blood pressure measurements in a home environment, it is suggested to use a system (1) for determining the blood pressure of a patient (2) comprising a blood pressure measuring device (3, 4) for measuring a blood pressure value, an auxiliary device (6, 7, 8, 9) for measuring the motor activity of the patient (2) during a defined period of time prior to the blood pressure measurement, and a processing device (13, 14), said processing device (13, 14) being adapted to obtain the motor activity information and the blood pressure value, said processing device (13, 14) being further adapted to automatically assess the blood pressure value using the motor activity information, and said processing device (13, 14) being further adapted to provide a measuring result depending on the result of the assessment.

Claims

1. A system for determining blood pressure of a patient, comprising:

a blood pressure measuring device for measuring a blood pressure value;

an auxiliary device for measuring motor activity of the patient during a defined period of time prior to the blood pressure measurement; and

a processing device, said processing device being configured to obtain the motor activity information and the blood pressure value, said processing device being further configured to automatically make a determination whether the blood pressure value is reliable based on whether the motor activity information is at or below a predefined level stored in a look-up table, and said processing device being further configured to provide a measuring result based on the determination.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the auxiliary device is configured to measure the motor activity of the patient during the blood pressure measurement.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to provide a measuring result in form of a corrected blood pressure value.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to provide a measuring result in form of a blood pressure value with a confidence interval.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to provide a measuring result in form of a signal to the patient requesting the patient to repeat the blood pressure measurement.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a number of additional auxiliary devices, said additional auxiliary devices being configured to provide additional measuring-related information which has been obtained before or during the blood pressure measurement, and the processing device being configured to obtain at least one additional piece of measuring-related information for making the determination of the reliability of the blood pressure value.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for measuring ECG data of the patient.

8. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for measuring the galvanic skin response of the patient.

9. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for measuring the patient'"'"'s silence.

10. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for measuring the patient'"'"'s posture.

11. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for obtaining the sex or age of the patient.

12. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for obtaining the history of blood pressure measurements of the patient.

13. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for measuring the ambient temperature during the blood pressure measurement.

14. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for measuring the ambient sound intensity.

15. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for obtaining the time of day.

16. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said additional auxiliary device comprises a device for obtaining weather data.

17. A method of determining blood pressure of a patient, comprising the steps of:

measuring motor activity of the patient using an auxiliary device during a defined period of time prior to a blood pressure measurement;

measuring a blood pressure value using a blood pressure measuring device;

automatically making a determination whether the blood pressure value is reliable based on whether the motor activity information is at or below a predefined level stored in a look-up table; and

providing a measuring result based on the determination.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein measuring the motor activity of the patient is performed during the blood pressure measurement.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the determination of whether the blood pressure value is reliable is performed using a number of additional measuring-related pieces of information, which have been obtained before or during the blood pressure measurement.

20. A computer-readable medium containing computer executable instructions, that when executed on a computer, cause the computer to determine blood pressure of a patient, the instructions comprising:

automatically making a determination of a reliability of a measured blood pressure value based on whether motor activity information of the patient is at or below a predefined level stored in a look-up table, said motor activity information being obtained during a defined period of time prior to a blood pressure measurement; and

providing a measuring result depending on the determination.