Detection of electrocardiographic and respiratory signals from transthoracic bioimpedance spectroscopy measurements with a wearable monitor for improved home-based disease management in congestive heart failure

Wearable monitoring devices for home telehealth have the ability to improve the management of patients with chronic conditions by guiding therapy and detecting early signs of health deterioration. Congestive heart failure (CHF) patients at risk of abnormal fluid accumulation can be followed with a wearable monitor that assesses thoracic fluid status from bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) measurements. To extend the information range beyond fluid status, methods to detect electrocardiographic (ECG) and respiratory signals from these measurements were proposed and evaluated in volunteer studies. It was found that the detected signals can be used for accurate extraction of RR and inter-breath intervals (IBIs). As a result, bioimpedance measurements with the wearable, trans-thoracic monitor may enable multi-parametric monitoring of fluid status, heart rate variability and respiration.