Apparatus and method of processing a subject-specific value based on beat-to-beat information

• US 9,386,930 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2014
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lev-El Diagnostics of Heart Diseases, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Lev-El Diagnostics of Heart Diseases, Ltd.
• Inventors: Levitan, Jacob, Kobo, Roi
• Primary Examiner(s): VOORHEES, CATHERINE M
• Application Number:
  US14/258,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20140228697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 5/349 Detecting specific parameters of the electrocardiograph cycle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/363 Detecting tachycardia or bradycardia
• 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: A61N 1/3621 for treating or preventing abnormally high heart rate
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3702 Physiological parameters A61N1/365 takes precedence; evoked response A61N1/371
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37258 Alerting the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3925 Monitoring; Protecting
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3962 in combination with another heart therapy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/39622 Pacing therapy
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

A system for measuring heart rate variability (HRV) comprising 3 sub-systems: a data collection sub-system, a data analysis sub-system, and an output sub-system. A patient is connected to a heart monitoring device such as an ECG and the data collection sub-system records the patients heart beats, and an ECG chart is produced from which the patient'"'"'s HRV value is derived by the data analysis sub-system. The present invention obtains the HRV value through calculation of a new parameter called relative density (RD). In accordance with the inventive method, data points are generated from the peak interval data of measured heart beats and the HRV relative density parameter (RD) is calculated by correlation between two subsets of data points.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a memory and

a processor to process a subject-specific value of a parameter corresponding to a subject based on input beat-to-beat information corresponding to said subject, the subject-specific value determined based on a quotient of first and second factor values, the first and second factor values determined based on a two-dimensional representation of said beat-to-beat information on a coordinate system including a first axis and a second axis, the first factor value determined based on points within a first axis-interval of said first axis, and the second factor value determined based on points within a second axis-interval of said second axis,

wherein said subject-specific value is configured to be compared to at least one predefined reference value corresponding to at least one medical condition, and wherein a relationship between the subject-specific value and the reference value is to represent a risk of said subject to suffer from said medical condition.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said parameter comprises a dy/dx parameter, said subject-specific value comprises a subject-specific dy/dx value, and said reference value comprises a reference dy/dx value.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said reference dy/dx value is equal to or less than 2.3.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said subject-specific value is configured to be compared to a diagnostic reference value to diagnose said medical condition.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said subject-specific value is configured to be compared to a prognostic reference value to provide a prognosis of said medical condition.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one factor value of said first and second factor values comprises a dx factor value and another factor value of said first and second factor values comprises a dy factor value, the dx factor value corresponding to an x-axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the dy factor value corresponding to a y-axis of the Cartesian coordinate system.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said dx factor value is based on a first number of points within an interval along said x-axis having a maximal number of points compared to other axis-intervals along said x-axis, and wherein said dy factor value is based on a second number of points within an interval along said y-axis having a maximal number of points compared to other axis-intervals along said y-axis.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said subject-specific value is equal to the quotient of said first and second factor values.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said medical condition comprises a medical condition of the autonomic nervous system.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said medical condition comprises a heart condition.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said medical condition comprises congestive heart failure.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said medical condition comprises Ventricular Tachcardia (VT).

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said medical condition comprises a medical condition selected from the group consisting of Parkinson'"'"'s disease, diabetic neuropathy and Alzheimer'"'"'s.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said processor is to generate an output based on said subject-specific value.

15. A computer-based method comprising:

processing, by a computing device, a subject-specific value of a parameter corresponding to a subject based on input beat-to-beat information corresponding to said subject, the subject-specific value determined based on first and second factor values, the first and second factor values determined based on a two-dimensional representation of said beat-to-beat information on a coordinate system including a first axis and a second axis, the first factor value determined based on points within a first axis-interval of said first axis, and the second factor value determined based on points within a second axis-interval of said second axis,

wherein said subject-specific value is configured to be compared to at least one predefined reference value corresponding to at least one medical condition, wherein a relationship between the subject-specific value and the reference value is to provide an indication of said subject to suffer from said medical condition.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said parameter comprises a dy/dx parameter, said subject-specific value comprises a subject-specific dy/dx value, and said reference value comprises a reference dy/dx value.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein one factor value of said first and second factor values comprises a dx factor value and another factor value of said first and second factor values comprises a dy factor value, the dx factor value corresponding to an x-axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the dy factor value corresponding to a y-axis of the Cartesian coordinate system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said dx factor value is based on a first number of points within an interval along said x-axis having a maximal number of points compared to other axis-intervals along said x-axis, and wherein said dy factor value is based on a second number of points within an interval along said y-axis having a maximal number of points compared to other axis-intervals along said y-axis.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein said subject-specific value is based on a quotient of said first and second factor values.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein said medical condition comprises a heart condition.