US 9,307,923 B2Granted

Electrophysiological monitoring of uterine contractions

AssigneeNemo Healthcare B.V.

InventorsChristiaan Hendrik Leonard Peters, Rik Vullings

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Abstract

A signal processing arrangement 130, a monitoring system 100, a signal processing method, a monitoring method of monitoring uterine contractions of a pregnant woman, and a computer program product are provided. The signal processing arrangement 130 receives an electrophysiological signal 116 representing uterine muscle activity of a pregnant woman at an input 132. A filter 136 generates a filtered electrohysterogram signal from the electrophysiological signal 116. The filter 136 allows the passage of spectral components between 0 and 3 Hz. A window function applicator 138 applies a window function to the filtered electrohysterogram signal to obtain an output waveform 146. The window function defines that samples of a time interval preceding the application of the window function need to be used The output waveform 146 simulates output data of tocodynamometer or an intra-uterine pressure catheter. The output waveform 146 is provided at an output 144 of the signal processing arrangement.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A signal processing arrangement for processing electrophysiological signals related to uterine contractions of a pregnant woman, the signal processing arrangement comprising:

an input for receiving an electrophysiological signal that is measured on the abdomen of a pregnant woman,
a band-pass filter for receiving the electrophysiological signal and for providing a filtered electrohysterogram signal, the filter being configured to allow a passage of frequencies of the electrophysiological signal in a frequency band and to attenuate frequencies of the electrophysiological signal outside the frequency band, the frequency band lying in a range from 0 Hz to 3 Hz,
a window function applicator for receiving the filtered electrohysterogram signal from the band-pass filter and for providing an output waveform, the window function applicator being configured to generate the output waveform by continuously applying a window function to samples of the filtered electrohysterogram signal, wherein a single application of the window function comprises adding, according to weight values provided by the applied window function, only absolute values of samples of the filtered electrohysterogram signal which relate to a specific time interval that immediately precedes the moment in time at which the window function is applied, and
an output for providing the output waveform, the output waveform simulating output data of a tocodynamometer or an intra-uterine pressure catheter, the output data representing data relating to uterine contractions.

1 more element

A signal processing method of processing electrophysiological signals related to uterine contractions of a pregnant woman, the signal processing method comprising the stages of:

obtaining via a plurality of electrodes and a measurement device an electrophysiological signal representing uterine muscle activity of a pregnant woman,
receiving at an input the electrophysiological signal,
filtering the received electrophysiological signal to obtain a filtered electrohysterogram signal, the filtering being performed using a filter which allows the passage of frequencies of the electrophysiological signal in a frequency band and for attenuating frequencies of the electrophysiological signal outside the frequency band, the frequency band lying in a range from 0 Hz to 3 Hz,
receiving at a window function applicator the filtered electrohysterogram signal and generating an output waveform by the window function applicator continuously applying a window function to samples of the filtered electrohysterogram signal, wherein a single application of the window function by the window function applicator comprises adding, according to weight values provided by the applied window function, only absolute values of samples of the filtered electrohysterogram signal which relate to a specific time interval that immediately precedes the moment in time at which the window function is applied,
providing via a presentation device the output waveform for interpretation, the output waveform simulating output data of a tocodynamometer or an intra-uterine pressure catheter representing data relating to uterine contractions.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.