POLAR PLOT TO REPRESENT GLUCOSE SENSOR PERFORMANCE

• US 20130109943A1
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Minimed Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Minimed Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Gottlieb, Rebecca K., Luo, Ying, Yang, Ning, Chase, James Geoffrey
• Granted Patent: US 9,307,936 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/365
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14865 invasive, e.g. introduced into the body by a catheter or needle or using implanted sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1495 Calibrating or testing of in-vivo probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6849 in combination with a needle set
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7239 using differentiation including higher order derivatives
• 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: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatuses, etc. for providing a visual expression of the performance of one or more blood glucose sensors. In one particular example, a relative comparison of a rate of change sensor blood glucose and a rate of change in reference blood glucose may be expressed in a polar plot or graph. The polar plot or graph may then be generated onto a visual medium.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

computing a first rate of change in blood glucose concentration as observed from blood glucose reference samples obtained from a body;

computing a second rate of change in said blood glucose concentration as observed at a blood glucose sensor;

expressing a relative comparison of said first rate of change and said second rate of change as an angle in a polar plot; and

generating signals to present said polar plot in a visual medium.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a radius of values plotted in said polar plot are based, at least in part, on blood glucose measurements obtained from said blood glucose reference samples.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said radius is proportional to a magnitude of said blood glucose concentration as measured from said blood glucose measurements.

4. The method of claim 1, and further comprising defining an alert region of said polar plot comprising a hypoglycemic region within a threshold radius and an angular section defined, at least in part, by a positive rate of change in blood glucose according to said computed second rate of change and a negative rate of change according to said second rate of change.

5. The method of claim 1, and further comprising computing said angle based, at least in part, as the arctangent of a ratio of the second computed rate of change to the first computed rate of change.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said visual medium comprises a printed document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said visual medium comprises an image presented on a computer display.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said computing the second rate of change further comprises:

obtaining a first blood glucose reference sample measurement value at a beginning of a period;

obtaining a second blood glucose reference sample measurement value at an end of the period; and

dividing a difference between the first and second blood glucose reference sample measurement values by the period.

9. The method of claim 8, and further comprising expressing said second blood glucose reference sample measurement value as a radius in said polar plot.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a length of said radius is determined as an increasing function of said second blood glucose reference sample measurement value.

11. A computing platform comprising:

one or more processors to;

compute a first rate of change in blood glucose concentration as observed from blood glucose reference samples obtained from a body;

compute a second rate of change in said blood glucose concentration as observed at a blood glucose sensor;

express a relative comparison of said first rate of change and said second rate of change as an angle in a polar plot; and

generate signals to present said polar plot in a visual medium.

12. The computing platform of claim 11, and further comprising a display device to present an image of said polar plot responsive to said generated signals.

13. The computing platform of claim 11, and further comprising a storage medium to store a digital image of said polar plot in a compressed format.

14. The computing platform of claim 11, wherein said signals comprise commands to a printer for printing said polar plot onto a printed document.

15. The computing platform of claim 11, and further comprising a communication device, the one or more processors further to initiate transmission of said generated signals to a communication network.

16. An article comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions stored thereon which are executable by a special purpose computing apparatus to;

compute a first rate of change in blood glucose concentration as observed from blood glucose reference samples obtained from a body;

compute a second rate of change in said blood glucose concentration as observed at a blood glucose sensor;

express a relative comparison of said first rate of change and said second rate of change as an angle in a polar plot; and

generate signals to present said polar plot in a visual medium.

17. The article of claim 16, wherein said instructions are further executable by said special purpose computing apparatus to compress a digital image of said polar plot in a format for storage in a non-transitory storage medium or for transmission in a communication network.

18. The article of claim 16, wherein said instructions are further executable by said special purpose computing apparatus to compute the second rate of change by:

obtaining a first blood glucose reference sample measurement value at a beginning of a period;

obtaining a second blood glucose reference sample measurement value at an end of the period; and

dividing a difference between the first and second blood glucose reference sample measurement values by the period.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein said second blood glucose reference sample measurement value is expressed as a radius in said polar plot.

20. The article claim 16, wherein said generated signals comprise signals for presenting an image of said polar plot on a display.

21. An apparatus comprising:

means for computing a first rate of change in blood glucose concentration as observed from blood glucose reference samples obtained from a body;

means for computing a second rate of change in said blood glucose concentration as observed at a blood glucose sensor;

means for expressing a relative comparison of said first rate of change and said second rate of change as an angle in a polar plot; and

means for generating signals to present said polar plot in a visual medium.