Systems and methods for sensing lung fluid and functionality

An apparatus for monitoring a target patient for accumulation of lung fluid at the base of at least one lung, the apparatus comprising:

• a feeding tube for insertion into a distal end of an esophagus of the target patient;
• at least one first electrode disposed on the distal end of the feeding tube at a location such that the at least one first electrode is located at the distal end of the esophagus of the target patient when the feeding tube is located within the esophagus and in use and, wherein the at least one first electrode is positioned for electrical contact with the tissue of the esophagus below the level of the heart including a lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and tissue in proximity to the LES while the feeding tube is in use for enteral feeding via the stomach and/or digestive system of the patient;
• at least one second electrode sized and shaped for contacting the surface of the skin of the target patient below the level of the heart;
• and
• a non-transitory memory having stored thereon a code for execution by at least one hardware processor of a computing device, the code including instruction for applying at least one alternating current to at least one pair of first and second electrodes below the level of the heart, measuring a voltage over the at least one pair of first and second electrodes, and computing an estimate of a change of lung fluid at the base of at least one lung relative to a baseline in the at least one lung of the target patient according to the applied alternating current and measured voltage;
• wherein the applying the at least one alternating current, the measuring the voltage drop, and the computing the estimate of the change in lung fluid are iteratively executed for monitoring the target patient for accumulation of lung fluid at the base of at least one lung while the feeding tube is in use.