Philips Research Technology Backgrounder
Novel solutions to improve detection of sleep disturbance and early indicators of heart failure |
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Philips is currently developing medical technologies that enable
people to fight cardiovascular diseases in their own home. The technologies are meant
to support physicians in the treatment of patients with a chronic
heart disease. In addition, the technologies should enable and
motivate people to adopt a healthier lifestyle for preventative
purposes. Philips’ efforts span the whole range from a new
sensor technology to a service infrastructure that supports people
in addressing their specific issues. The true challenge lies in
realizing reliable and easy to use patient monitoring devices, that
can be worn unobtrusively on the body, or that can be incorporated
in the home environment. The latest results involve an unobstrusive
solution to monitor the quality of sleep, and garments that monitor
the early indicators of heart failure.
Prevention – example: Training healthy sleep Improving the sleep quality in a home environment has been addressed by newly developed biomedical bedclothes. These provide respiration and heart rate information using a pressure-sensitive bed sheet, to measure the expanding and contracting thorax, and the beating heart. Because the bed sheet is so sensitive, the challenge that scientists at Philips solved was filtering out the large amounts of noise in the data stream, to detect respiration and the heartbeat reliably, and to determine sleep quality. The bedclothes also measure ECG using textile sensors woven into the fabric of the pillowcase and the feet-end of the sheet. These need skin contact to pick up the electrical activity of the heart. Trials with various candidates show usable signals for up to 90% of the time. It is the job of the algorithm, developed by Philips, to recognize the usable segments, and use these to identify disturbances to the patient’s sleep and provide a sleep quality index. The user gets this information in the morning with recommendations how they can improve their sleep, or explorations that can help them avoid problems. Disease Management - example: Heart failure The centerpiece of the early diagnosis solution is a garment with textile ECG electrodes sewn seamlessly into the fabric. These electrodes need to be comfortable, washable, unobtrusive, and keep good contact with the skin as the patient moves. Careful design of the garment was important to make sure there is no reluctance from the patient to wearing it. The garment together with a weight scale and a blood pressure cuff provide the core measurements clinicians need to detect decompensations. Decompensations are a prime cause of hospitalizations among patients with chronic cardiovascular disease (CVD). The measurement units connect to a communications unit (at the event a PDA) by Bluetooth. In the future this could be a set-top box, for example, to complement the remote monitoring and lifestyle education offered by the Philips Motiva system. The ECG measurement from the bed can also be used to measure the resting heart rate. This is a valuable parameter in predicting heart failure decompensation. Benefits for clinicians, patients and health insurers Because continuous monitoring yields large quantities of data, reliable algorithms need to extract meaningful information, relay it to caregivers, and flag conditions they need to respond to. Helping them manage greater numbers of patients, and achieve better outcomes is where such systems can deliver economic value. Predicting decompensations in time can enable appropriate change in medication, avoiding expensive hospitalizations, and increasing both the life expectancy and quality of life of the patient. By leading the European MyHeart project, Philips is exploring this field in the spirit of open innovation. The project brings together industrial, academic and clinical partners to develop intelligent solutions that empower users to prevent, and help clinicians to oversee treatments for CVD. Central to this are solutions that sufferers can live with, that clinicians can trust, and that make economic sense. The heart failure management system is due to take part in a clinical study in 2007. This study is a prerequisite to decide on the commercialization of the new technologies. |
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