Methods and systems for electrode placement

• US 9,220,430 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2014
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AliveCor Inc.
• Original Assignee: AliveCor Inc.
• Inventors: Albert, David E.
• Primary Examiner(s): EVANISKO, GEORGE ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US14/149,242
• Publication Number:
  US 20140194760A1
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/25 Bioelectric electrodes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/339 Displays specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/684 Indicating the position of the sensor on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/70 Means for positioning the patient in relation to the detecting, measuring or recording means

Abstract

Described herein are systems, devices and methods for guiding placement of electrodes, and particularly ECG electrodes on a patient. A picture of the patient'"'"'s body the patient can be analyzed to determine where on the patient'"'"'s body to place electrodes according to a predetermined, conventional or standard placement pattern. The methods, devices and systems may then guide a user in positioning or correcting the position of electrodes on the patient. For example, an image of the patient may be provided showing the correct position of the electrodes, which may act as a patient-specific map or guide. The electrode placement positions can correspond to conventional or standard 12-lead ECG electrode positions.

Claims

1. A method for guiding proper placement of electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes on a patient, the method comprising:

normalizing a picture of the patient using a normalization marker on the patient in the picture;

comparing the normalized picture of the patient to an electrode placement database and determining positions of the electrodes on the patient from said comparing, wherein the electrode placement database comprises representations of a plurality of body types and predetermined electrode placement positions corresponding to each body type; and

presenting an image of the patient showing the determined positions of the electrodes on the image of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the normalized picture to the electrode placement database comprises determining the standard placement of the electrodes for a 12-lead ECG on the patient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein normalizing the picture comprises scaling the picture.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the normalized picture of the patient to the electrode placement database includes determining the closest match between the picture and a representative body type in the patient database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing normalized the picture of the patient to the electrode placement database comprises interpolating between the closest matches to the picture and two or more representative body types in the patient database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the normalized picture of the patient to the electrode placement database includes determining anatomical landmarks from the picture and comparing the anatomical landmarks to the electrode placement database.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the normalized picture of the patient to the database comprises using pattern recognition to determine the closest match between the picture and a representative body type in the database.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the image of the patient showing positions for the electrodes on the image of the patient comprises presenting the image on a handheld computer device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the handheld computer device is a mobile phone, smartphone, tablet computer, or camera with network connectivity.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising taking the picture of the patient using a handheld computer device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the normalized picture of the patient to an electrode placement database comprises comparing the picture of the patient having one or more electrodes already placed on the patient'"'"'s chest to the electrode placement database.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising verifying the position of the one or more electrodes already placed on the patient'"'"'s chest.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein presenting the image comprises presenting an image of the patient showing corrected positioning of electrodes on the image of the patient.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising taking the picture of the patient and the normalization marker.

15. A method for guiding placement of electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes, the method comprising:

normalizing a picture of a patient'"'"'s chest using a normalization marker on the patient in the picture;

comparing the normalized picture of the patient to an electrode placement database and determining positions of the electrodes on the patient from said comparing, wherein the electrode placement database comprises representations of a plurality of body types and predetermined conventional ECG electrode placement positions corresponding to each body type; and

presenting an image of the patient showing the determined positions for the conventional ECG electrode positions on the image of the patient.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein comparing the normalized picture of the patient to the electrode placement database includes determining the closest match between the picture and a representative body type in the electrode placement database.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein comparing the normalized picture of the patient to the electrode placement database includes determining anatomical landmarks from the picture and comparing the anatomical landmarks to the electrode placement database.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein comparing the normalized picture of the patient to the database comprises using pattern recognition to determine the closest match between the picture and a representative body type in the electrode placement database.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein comparing is performed on a remote server.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein presenting comprises presenting the image on a handheld computer device.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein presenting comprises presenting the image on a smartphone or tablet computer.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein normalizing comprises scaling the picture using the normalization marker so that the scale of the normalized picture matches the scale of the electrode placement database.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving the picture of a patient comprises receiving the picture of the patient with the electrodes on the patient'"'"'s chest;

and further comprising verifying the placement of the electrodes relative to conventional ECG electrode placement positions.

24. A method for determining the placement of ECG electrodes using a smartphone, the method comprising:

taking a picture of a patient'"'"'s chest including a normalization marker on the patient with the smartphone;

normalizing the scale of the picture using the normalization marker;

comparing the normalized picture to an electrode placement database comprising representations of a plurality of body types and predetermined ECG electrode placement positions for each body type and determining positions of the electrodes on the patient from said comparing, wherein the scale of the normalized picture is the same as the scale of the electrode placement database; and

presenting an image of the patient showing the determined positions for the ECG electrodes on the image of the patient.