1995-01-24
1997-03-11
Kamm, William E.
Surgery
Truss
Pad
128698, A61B 50444
Patent
active
056091567
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is a 371 of PCT/GB93/01231, filed Jun. 9, 1993.
This invention relates to a medical signal analyzer and particularly to an analyzer for use in the monitoring and processing of medical signals representing selected physiological parameters, and as an aid to interpretation of the signals.
In a modern hospital environment, many medical instruments are available to sense and display selected physiological parameters of a patient under observation, with information frequently being plotted or displayed as a time-varying waveform. Such an instrument may additionally incorporate an alarm system which operates by crudely comparing a feature of the waveform against a preset threshold, an alarm being raised when the particular measured feature crosses the threshold. Such a prior system is prone to positive and negative false alarms; that is, raising an alarm when the patient is in no immediate danger and not raising an alarm when the patient is in danger, respectively. The false alarm rate can be sufficiently high that in practice, the alarm is frequently ignored or even disabled. The analysis of the patient's condition using a medical instrument thus relies largely on the human interpretation of a continuous waveform. Correct interpretation requires specialised training, considerable experience, skill and alertness. Since it is frequently not possible to make personnel with such experience and training available on the ward on a 24 hour basis, the usefulness of the instrument is diminished.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a medical signal analyzer which improves the processing and aids the interpretation of patient-derived, medical signals.
This is achieved according to the invention by providing a medical signal analyzer comprising a sensing device including at least one sensor for monitoring at least one parameter derived from a physiological measurement taken from a patient under observation during labour and including a sensor for monitoring uterine movements and a sensor for monitoring foetal electro-cardiogram, a data collection device, coupled to the sensing device for receiving and sampling an output signal of the sensing device and generating digital signals representative of the parameter over a predetermined time interval, a data analysis means comprising means operable to generate a reference signal from the digital signals and to recognize in the digital signals received over a signal link from the data collection device a plurality of predetermined information features by automatically analysing the digital signals in relation to the reference signal, and means for classifying at least one of the said features, to produce first output signals representative of the existence of such features and representative of feature classifications, signal storage means arranged to receive and store the said first output signal as a short term knowledge base, database storage means for storing reference data as a long term knowledge base, an inference engine arranged to process signals representative of the short term and long term knowledge bases automatically to produce conclusion signals, and indication means coupled to receive signals produced by the inference engine to provide an indication of said conclusion signals.
An inference engine can be arranged to receive and process signals representative of the short term and long term knowledge bases automatically to produce conclusion signals, and a display device coupled to receive signals produced by the inference engine displays a visual indication of the conclusion signals.
The sensing device is preferably a device that senses the uterine pressure of a pregnant woman and foetal electro-cardiogram (ECG) which can be used to derive foetal heart rate. Such a device, which usually produces a continuous time-varying, parallel trace indicating uterine pressure and foetal heart rate called a cardiotocogram (CTG), is commonly called a CTG monitor. By analysing the signal collected from the sensing device, features comprising time
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patent: 3989034 (1976-11-01), Hojaiban
patent: 4964410 (1990-10-01), Leahey et al.
Alonso et al., "Development of an Adviser System for Foetal Diagnosis During Labor," Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, vol. 10, pp. 1355-1357.
Karakas et al., "A Neural Net Learning Algorithm for Design of Cardiotocograph Signal Evaluation Expert System: MYDEARBABY 90/2.47," Proceedings of Database and Expert Systems Application, Springer Verlag, pp. 427-431.
Karnas et al., "Expert Systems for Evaluating Fetal Monitor Signals," Proceedings of the ISCIS III, NOVA Science Publ., New York, Cesme, Turkey, pp. 317-322.
Alonso-Betanzos et al., "Foetos: An Expert System for Fetal Assessment," IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 38, pp. 199-211.
Greene Keith R.
Ifeachor Emmanuel C.
Keith Robert D. F.
Westgate Jennifer
Browning Clifford W.
Kamm William E.
Schaetzle Kennedy J.
University of Plymouth
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