In-home wireless monitoring of physiological data for heart failure patients

The current project proposes an integrated system (hardware and software) for real-time, wireless, remote acquisition of cardiac and other physiologic information from HF patients while in the home environment. Transducers for measurement of electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate variability (HRV), acoustical data are embedded into patient clothing for unobtrusive monitoring for early, sensitive detection of changes in physiologic status. Sampling rate for this system is 1 kHz per channel. Signal conditioning is performed in hardware by the patient wearable system, after which information is wirelessly transmitted to a central server located elsewhere in the home for signal processing, data storage, and data trending. The dynamic frequency ranges for the ECG and heart sounds (HS) are 0.05-160 Hz and 35-1350 Hz, respectively. The range-of-operation for the current patient-wearable physiologic data capture design is 100/spl plusmn/10 feet with direct line-of-sight to the home server station. Weight measurements are obtained directly by the in-home medical server using a digital scale. Physiologic information (ECG, HRV, HS, and weight) are dynamically analyzed using a combination o the LabVIEW (National Instruments, Inc.; Austin, TX) and MATLAB (MathWorks, Inc.; Inc; Natick, MA) software strategies. Software-based algorithms detect out-of-normal or alarm conditions for HR and weight as defined by the health care provider, information critical for HF patients. Health care professionals can remotely access vital data for improved management of heart failure.