Continuous Estimation of Acute Changes in Preload Using Epicardially Attached Accelerometers.

OBJECTIVE: A miniaturized accelerometer can be incorporated in temporary pacemaker leads which are routinely attached to the epicardium during cardiac surgery and provide continuous monitoring of cardiac motion during and following surgery. We tested if such a sensor could be used to assess volume status, which is essential in hemodynamically unstable patients. METHODS: An accelerometer was attached to the epicardium of 9 pigs and recordings performed during baseline, fluid loading, and phlebotomy in a closed chest condition. Alterations in left ventricular (LV) preload alter myocardial tension which affects the frequency of myocardial acceleration associated with the first heart sound ( fS1). The accuracy of fS1 as an estimate of preload was evaluated using sonomicrometry measured end-diastolic volume (EDV[Formula: see text]). Standard clinical estimates of global end-diastolic volume using pulse index continuous cardiac output (PiCCO) measurements (GEDV[Formula: see text]) and pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) were obtained for comparison. The diagnostic accuracy of identifying fluid responsiveness was analyzed for fS1, stroke volume variation (SVV[Formula: see text]), pulse pressure variation (PPV[Formula: see text]), GEDV[Formula: see text], and PAOP. RESULTS: Changes in fS1 correlated well to changes in EDV[Formula: see text] ( r2=0.81, 95%CI: [0.68, 0.89]), as did GEDV[Formula: see text] ( r2=0.59, 95%CI: [0.36, 0.76]) and PAOP ( r2=0.36, 95%CI: [0.01, 0.73]). The diagnostic accuracy [95%CI] in identifying fluid responsiveness was 0.79 [0.66, 0.94] for fS1, 0.72 [0.57, 0.86] for SVV[Formula: see text], and 0.63 (0.44, 0.82) for PAOP. CONCLUSION: An epicardially placed accelerometer can assess changes in preload in real-time. SIGNIFICANCE: This novel method can facilitate continuous monitoring of the volemic status in open-heart surgery patients and help guiding fluid resuscitation.

Monitoring cardiac function by accelerometer - detecting start systole from the acceleration signal makes additional ECG recordings for R-peak detection redundant.

A miniaturized accelerometer attached to the heart has been used for monitoring functional parameters such as early systolic velocity and displacement. Currently, processing of the accelerometer signal for derival of these functional parameters depends on determining start systole by detecting the ECG R-peaks. This study proposes an alternative method using only the accelerometer signal to detect start systole, making additional ECG recordings for this purpose redundant. A signal processing method for automatic detection of start systole by accelerometer alone was developed and compared with detected R-peaks in 15 pigs during 5 different interventions showing a difference of 30 ± 17 ms. Furthermore, the derived early systolic velocity and displacement using only accelerometer measurements correlated well (r2=0.91 and 0.82, respectively) with minor differences compared to the current method using ECG R-peaks as time reference. The results show that an accelerometer can be used to monitor cardiac function without the need to measure ECG which can simplify the monitoring system.

Detection of intraoperative myocardial dysfunction by accelerometer during aortic valve replacement.

OBJECTIVES: Myocardial dysfunction may occur during weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Epicardial accelerometers have been shown to be useful in continuous monitoring of myocardial ischaemia during beating-heart surgery. We aimed to investigate whether an accelerometer can detect myocardial dysfunction during weaning from CPB. METHODS: In 23 patients undergoing isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR), a three-axis accelerometer was attached to the left ventricle and 3D velocity was calculated from the signals. Peak early systolic velocity (Vsys) and velocity at aortic valve closure (Vavc) were measured. Measurements were undertaken during normothermia with 50% bypass flow and atrial pacing (90 beats/min) before aortic cross-clamping and after cross-clamp removal. Myocardial dysfunction was defined as Vsys < Vavc, and patients were classified as having normal function or dysfunction. Left ventricular (LV) stroke work via pulmonary artery catheter and systolic velocity by echocardiography were compared between groups and used as reference methods. RESULTS: The accelerometer identified a substantial proportion of patients with myocardial dysfunction during weaning from CPB, 56% of patients compared with 11% before aortic cross-clamping. Patients classified with normal myocardial function during weaning significantly improved their LV stroke work and systolic velocity by echocardiography in response to AVR, whereas those classified with dysfunction did not. Accelerometer classification of normal function predicted an increase in echocardiographic systolic velocity [r = 0.63, regression coefficient 1.98, 95% CI (0.57, 3.40) (P < 0.01)]. CONCLUSIONS: The accelerometer detected myocardial dysfunction during weaning from CPB in accordance with measures obtained by echocardiography and pulmonary artery catheter. Clinical Trials identifier: NCT01926067. https://clinicaltrials.gov/.

Gravity Compensation Method for Combined Accelerometer and Gyro Sensors Used in Cardiac Motion Measurements.

A miniaturized accelerometer fixed to the heart can be used for monitoring of cardiac function. However, an accelerometer cannot differentiate between acceleration caused by motion and acceleration due to gravity. The accuracy of motion measurements is therefore dependent on how well the gravity component can be estimated and filtered from the measured signal. In this study we propose a new method for estimating the gravity, based on strapdown inertial navigation, using a combined accelerometer and gyro. The gyro was used to estimate the orientation of the gravity field and thereby remove it. We compared this method with two previously proposed gravity filtering methods in three experimental models using: (1) in silico computer simulated heart motion; (2) robot mimicked heart motion; and (3) in vivo measured motion on the heart in an animal model. The new method correlated excellently with the reference (r 2 > 0.93) and had a deviation from reference peak systolic displacement (6.3 ± 3.9 mm) below 0.2 ± 0.5 mm for the robot experiment model. The new method performed significantly better than the two previously proposed methods (p < 0.001). The results show that the proposed method using gyro can measure cardiac motion with high accuracy and performs better than existing methods for filtering the gravity component from the accelerometer signal.

Continuous monitoring of cardiac function by 3-dimensional accelerometers in a closed-chest pig model.

OBJECTIVES: Cardiac wall motions reflect systolic and diastolic function. We have previously demonstrated the ability of a miniaturized three-axis (3D) accelerometer to monitor left ventricular function in experimental models and in patients. The main aim of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of the method for monitoring the left and right ventricular function during changes in global and regional cardiac function in a postoperative closed-chest situation. METHODS: In 13 closed-chest pigs, miniaturized 3D accelerometers were placed on the left ventricle in the apical and basal regions and in the basal region of the right ventricle. An epicardial 3D motion vector was calculated from the acceleration signals in each heart region. Peak systolic velocity along this 3D vector (3D V(sys)) was compared with the positive time derivative of the left and right ventricular pressure and with cardiac index during changes in global LV function (unloading, fluid loading, esmolol, dobutamine) and with ultrasound during regional left ventricular dysfunction (3-min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery). RESULTS: Significant and typical changes in accelerometer 3D V(sys) were seen in all heart regions during changes in global cardiac function. 3D V(sys) reflected the left and right ventricular contractility via significant correlations with the positive time derivative of the left and right ventricular pressure, r = 0.86 and r = 0.72, and with cardiac index r = 0.82 and r = 0.73 (all P < 0.001), respectively. The miniaturized accelerometers also detected regional dysfunction, but showed reduced ability to localize ischaemia as the 3D V(sys) in all heart regions showed similar reductions during coronary artery occlusion. CONCLUSIONS: Miniaturized 3D accelerometers placed on the heart can assess global and regional function in a closed-chest model. The technique may be used for continuous postoperative monitoring after cardiac surgery.

In-Body to On-Body Ultrawideband Propagation Model Derived From Measurements in Living Animals.

Ultrawideband (UWB) radio technology for wireless implants has gained significant attention. UWB enables the fabrication of faster and smaller transceivers with ultralow power consumption, which may be integrated into more sophisticated implantable biomedical sensors and actuators. Nevertheless, the large path loss suffered by UWB signals propagating through inhomogeneous layers of biological tissues is a major hindering factor. For the optimal design of implantable transceivers, the accurate characterization of the UWB radio propagation in living biological tissues is indispensable. Channel measurements in phantoms and numerical simulations with digital anatomical models provide good initial insight into the expected path loss in complex propagation media like the human body, but they often fail to capture the effects of blood circulation, respiration, and temperature gradients of a living subject. Therefore, we performed UWB channel measurements within 1-6 GHz on two living porcine subjects because of the anatomical resemblance with an average human torso. We present for the first time, a path loss model derived from these in vivo measurements, which includes the frequency-dependent attenuation. The use of multiple on-body receiving antennas to combat the high propagation losses in implant radio channels was also investigated.

Assessment of 3D motion increases the applicability of accelerometers for monitoring left ventricular function.

OBJECTIVES: Miniaturized accelerometers attached to the epicardium have been shown to provide useful clinical information. However, attachment of such a sensor has been cumbersome due to requirement of aligning the three sensor axes with the cardiac coordinate axes, limiting clinical utility. We propose a new method to process the three-dimensional (3D) accelerometer signal that does not require such alignment. METHODS: In 20 open-chest pigs, miniaturized 3D accelerometers were fixated on the epicardium in apical and basal regions of left ventricle. Accelerations in circumferential, longitudinal and radial directions were measured and a 3D velocity vector was calculated. Systolic velocity along the 3D vector and velocities in circumferential, longitudinal and radial directions were compared with the positive time derivate of left ventricular pressure during changes in global left ventricular function (epinephrine, esmolol and fluid loading) and to strain echocardiography during left anterior descending artery occlusion. RESULTS: Distinct changes in all accelerometer velocities were observed during alterations on global and regional left ventricular function. Accelerometer 3D and circumferential systolic velocities in apical region best reflected left ventricular function during interventions on global function by correlating significantly with the positive time derivate of left ventricular pressure, r = 0.83 and r = 0.86, respectively. The accelerometer 3D velocity also demonstrated equally good capacity as circumferential velocity in discriminating coronary occlusion from interventions on global left ventricular function with sensitivity/specificity of 0.90/0.83 and 0.90/0.86, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Accelerometer 3D systolic velocity showed very good correspondence to changes in global and regional left ventricular function. Our results demonstrate that by the use of the accelerometer 3D motion vector, no alignment of the sensor with the cardiac coordinate axes was required. This increases potential clinical applicability of the accelerometer in cardiac surgery.

Fabrication and assembly of MEMS accelerometer-based heart monitoring device with simplified, one step placement.

An accelerometer-based heart monitoring system has been developed for real-time evaluation of heart wall movement. In this paper, assembly and fabrication of an improved device is presented along with system characterization and test data from an animal experiment. The new device is smaller and has simplified the implantation procedure compared to earlier prototypes. Leakage current recordings were well below those set by the corresponding standards.