Surface electromyography (sEMG) offers potential for analyzing patient-ventilator interactions and respiratory effort. Despite being promising, it is not yet clinically established, unlike electrocardiography (ECG), which shares the same physiological principles for cardiac monitoring. This study investigates ECG leads for capturing respiratory muscle signals in 20 healthy subjects during quiet and resistance breathing. Performance was quantified by signal-to-noise ratios between inspiratory activity and (1) baseline noise / (2) expiratory activity. ECG leads were suitable for monitoring respiration, with performance enhanced by combining ECG electrodes with respiratory sEMG electrodes. The findings support integrating respiratory sEMG into clinical practice using ECG electrodes without compromising cardiac monitoring.
Oltmann et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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