US 9,801,558 B2Granted

Detection and monitoring of abdominal aortic aneurysm

AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.

InventorGeert Gui Georges Morren

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Abstract

Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) cause a large number of deaths annually. Ruptures occur even in people who are already diagnosed with AAA and are being monitored. The reason is that the interval between tests is too long because of the need to visit a pathological facility with imaging equipment. It is preferable to estimate the progress of AAA frequently, once detected, in a non-invasive manner, preferably at the subject's home, without the need for the subject to visit a pathological facility. A device is disclosed for detecting a state of a vascular pathology of a subject, comprising a sensor signal unit (103) for providing a signal representative of a blood volume in a body part of a subject, a comparator (107) for comparing the sensor signal with a reference signal, and a user interface (109) for conveying a result based on the comparison to a user of the device.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A device for testing a subject for estimating a progress of a state of an existing abdominal aorta aneurysm of the subject based on a determined change over time, the device comprising:

a sensor configured to sense a pulsation of blood volume in a body part of the subject;
a memory;
a processor configured to:
acquire from the sensor an amplified sensor signal representative of the blood volume in the body part of the subject;
acquire an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal of the subject via an ECG electrode, the ECG signal indicating an activity of the heart muscle of the subject;
analyze a time interval between a peak of the ECG signal and the sensor signal for a number of cycles so as to synchronize the acquisition of the sensor signal with the ECG signal;
increase the amplification of a DC component of the sensor signal to a higher amplification for the time period when the ECG signal indicates that the heart muscle of the subject is in a diastolic state, and reduce the amplification of the DC component of the sensor signal for the time period when the ECG signal indicates that the heart muscle of the subject is in a systolic state;
compare one or more characteristics of the sensor signal with corresponding one or more characteristics of a reference signal stored in the memory, wherein the reference signal is a corresponding sensor signal previously acquired from a test on the subject a time period ago, timing information of the ECG signal being used to compensate for a difference in heart rates of the subject between acquisitions of the sensor signal and the reference signal;
and
determine a change in the one or more characteristics of the sensor signal over the time period;
and
a user interface configured to display a result of the determination,
wherein the result provides an estimate of the progress of the state of the existing abdominal aorta aneurysm.

10 more elements

A method of testing a subject for estimating a progress of a state of an existing abdominal aorta aneurysm of the subject based on a determined change over time, the method comprising:

sensing a pulsation of blood volume in a body part of the subject with a sensor and acquiring an amplified sensor signal representative of the blood volume;
acquiring, by a processor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal of the subject via an ECG electrode, the ECG signal indicating an activity of the heart muscle of the subject;
analyzing, by the processor, a time interval between a peak of the ECG signal and the sensor signal for a number of cycles so as to synchronize, by the processor, the acquisition of the sensor signal with the ECG signal;
amplifying to a higher amplification, by the processor, a DC component of the sensor signal when the ECG signal indicates that the heart muscle of the subject is in a diastolic state, and reducing the amplification of the DC component of the sensor signal for the time period when the ECG signal indicates that the heart muscle of the subject is in a systolic state;
comparing, by the processor, one or more characteristics of the sensor signal with corresponding one or more characteristics of a reference signal stored in a memory, wherein the reference signal is a corresponding sensor signal previously acquired from a test on the subject a time period ago, timing information of the ECG signal being used to compensate for a difference in heart rates of the subject between acquisitions of the sensor signal and the reference signal;
determining, by the processor, a change in the one or more characteristics of the sensor signal over the time period;
and
displaying a result of the determination, wherein the result provides an estimate of the progress of the state of the existing abdominal aorta aneurysm.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/811,297Filed 14 Jul 2011
Priority: EP 1017032521 Jul 2010
Published: US 2013/0116576 A19 May 2013
Granted: 31 Oct 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

A61B 5/0295
Measuring blood flow: using plethysmography, i.e. measuring the variations in the volume of a body part as modified by the circulation of blood…
A61B 5/02014
Evaluating blood vessel condition, e.g. elasticity, compliance: determining aneurysm
A61B 5/02416
Measuring pulse rate or heart rate: using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation
A61B 5/0261
Measuring blood flow: using optical means, e.g. infrared light