Method and system for monitoring thoracic tissue fluid
Inventors
Rappaport, Dan • MIZRAHI, Nadav • Bergida, Shiomi • SAROKA, Amir • Ronen, Amir • KOCHBA, Ilan
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-11564586-B2
Publication Date
2023-01-31
Expiration Date
Abstract
A method for monitoring thoracic tissue. The method comprises intercepting reflections of electromagnetic (EM) radiation reflected from thoracic tissue of a patient in radiation sessions during a period of at least 24 hours, detecting a change of a dielectric coefficient of the thoracic tissue by analyzing respective the reflections, and outputting a notification indicating the change. The reflections are changed as an outcome of thoracic movements which occur during the period.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to monitoring thoracic, optionally pulmonary, fluid content by intercepting and analyzing radio frequency (RF) signals emitted or received during a plurality of radiation sessions of a patient with thoracic movements. It extracts at least one feature from the RF signals, where the at least one feature is selected from a group consisting of a phase and an amplitude of the RF signals. The analysis of electromagnetic reflections is used to detect changes in dielectric coefficient and/or dielectric-related properties that are associated with thoracic tissue.
The dielectric-related properties are used to derive fluid-content metrics for the pulmonary region, including extravascular lung water (EVLW) and related compartments (as described). The invention includes identifying misplacement of a wearable monitoring apparatus on the body by detecting at least one unexpected change to the at least one feature and/or an irregular pattern detected from the analysis of the at least one feature. The wearable apparatus outputs a notification indicative of the misplacement.
The invention further supports handling physiological context through segmentation and gating with respect to thoracic physiology, including breathing-cycle detection and modulating signal acquisition/analysis according to the breathing cycle. A chest-wall tissue dielectric model is used, including a predefined chest-wall model that can be predefined and/or adjusted, to identify corresponding segments and compensate for effects related to tissue transitions and patient context. The system may integrate posture detection and/or placement verification and may incorporate pathological pattern recognition for conditions such as CHF/ARDS and other described pulmonary disorders.
Claims Coverage
The independent claims cover two aspects: (i) a method that identifies misplacement of a wearable monitoring apparatus using RF-signal feature analysis during multiple radiation sessions, and (ii) a corresponding wearable monitoring apparatus configured to perform the same misplacement identification. Across the independent claims, the core inventive features involve RF interception in the stated frequency range from thoracic tissue, extracting phase and/or amplitude features, detecting misplacement from unexpected changes or irregular feature patterns, and outputting a misplacement notification over a plurality of radiation sessions.
Misplacement identification using RF phase/amplitude features across radiation sessions
intercepting, using at least one antenna element of the wearable monitoring apparatus, radio frequency (RF) signals at a range of 0.3 gigahertz (GHZ) to 20 GHZ from the at least one thoracic tissue of a patient in each of a plurality of radiation sessions; using at least one hardware processor to extract at least one feature from the RF signals, the at least one feature is selected from a group consisting a phase and an amplitude of the RF signals; identifying a misplacement of the wearable monitoring apparatus on the body of the user based on at least one of an unexpected change to the at least one feature and an irregular pattern detected from an analysis of the at least one feature; and outputting a notification indicative of the misplacement.
Wearable probe and processor configured for misplacement detection and session-based RF analysis
a probe having at least one antenna element to intercept radio frequency (RF) signals at a range of 0.3 gigahertz (GHZ) to 20 GHZ from at least one thoracic tissue of a patient; at least one hardware processor configured to perform an RF signal analysis to extract at least one feature from the RF signals, the at least one feature is selected from a group consisting a phase and an amplitude of the RF signals, and identify a misplacement of the wearable monitoring apparatus on the body of the user based on at least one of an unexpected change to at least one feature and an irregular pattern detected from an analysis of the at least one feature; and an output unit adapted to output a notification indicative of the misplacement; wherein the probe and the at least one hardware processor are configured for respectively performing the interception and the RF signal analysis in a plurality of radiation sessions.
Overall, the independent claims define a consistent RF-based misplacement identification approach centered on intercepting RF signals (0.3 GHz to 20 GHz) from thoracic tissue during multiple radiation sessions, extracting phase and/or amplitude features, detecting misplacement from unexpected changes or irregular feature patterns, and outputting a notification.
Stated Advantages
Enables outputting a notification indicative of the misplacement of a wearable monitoring apparatus.
Supports performing RF signal interception and RF signal analysis in a plurality of radiation sessions.
Documented Applications
Identifying misplacement of a wearable monitoring apparatus on the body of a user using RF-signal analysis from thoracic tissue.
Monitoring thoracic, optionally pulmonary, fluid content and deriving fluid-content metrics associated with dielectric-related properties, including EVLW and related compartments.
Pathological pattern recognition for conditions including CHF/ARDS and other pulmonary disorders described in the document.
Using breathing-cycle detection and modulation/gating to support thoracic/respiratory-context handling during monitoring sessions.
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