Continuous non-contact respiratory rate and tidal volume monitoring using a Depth Sensing Camera.

The monitoring of respiratory parameters is important across many areas of care within the hospital. Here we report on the performance of a depth-sensing camera system for the continuous non-contact monitoring of Respiratory Rate (RR) and Tidal Volume (TV), where these parameters were compared to a ventilator reference. Depth sensing data streams were acquired and processed over a series of runs on a single volunteer comprising a range of respiratory rates and tidal volumes to generate depth-based respiratory rate (RRdepth) and tidal volume (TVdepth) estimates. The bias and root mean squared difference (RMSD) accuracy between RRdepth and the ventilator reference, RRvent, across the whole data set was found to be -0.02 breaths/min and 0.51 breaths/min respectively. The least squares fit regression equation was determined to be: RRdepth = 0.96 × RRvent + 0.57 breaths/min and the resulting Pearson correlation coefficient, R, was 0.98 (p < 0.001). Correspondingly, the bias and root mean squared difference (RMSD) accuracy between TVdepth and the reference TVvent across the whole data set was found to be - 0.21 L and 0.23 L respectively. The least squares fit regression equation was determined to be: TVdepth = 0.79 × TVvent-0.01 L and the resulting Pearson correlation coefficient, R, was 0.92 (p < 0.001). In conclusion, a high degree of agreement was found between the depth-based respiration rate and its ventilator reference, indicating that RRdepth is a promising modality for the accurate non-contact respiratory rate monitoring in the clinical setting. In addition, a high degree of correlation between depth-based tidal volume and its ventilator reference was found, indicating that TVdepth may provide a useful monitor of tidal volume trending in practice. Future work should aim to further test these parameters in the clinical setting.

Noncontact Respiratory Monitoring Using Depth Sensing Cameras: A Review of Current Literature.

There is considerable interest in the noncontact monitoring of patients as it allows for reduced restriction of patients, the avoidance of single-use consumables and less patient-clinician contact and hence the reduction of the spread of disease. A technology that has come to the fore for noncontact respiratory monitoring is that based on depth sensing camera systems. This has great potential for the monitoring of a range of respiratory information including the provision of a respiratory waveform, the calculation of respiratory rate and tidal volume (and hence minute volume). Respiratory patterns and apneas can also be observed in the signal. Here we review the ability of this method to provide accurate and clinically useful respiratory information.