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Ambulatory cardiogenic pulmonary edema monitoring as an essential ubiquitous healthcare service – development of a simulation model This publication appears in: Journal of Medical Imaging and Health Informatics Authors: B. Truyen, C. Boca, L. Dimiccoli and J. Cornelis Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Pages: 64-69 Publication Date: Mar. 2012
Abstract: Given that the number of patients suffering from chronic heart failure is increasing exponentially over the last years, ambulatory monitoring systems capable of providing an advanced warning of pulmonary congestion at a presymptomatic stage, have the potential to drastically reduce the costs of (re-)hospitalization for acute decompensation, and substantially improve the living quality of these patients. Unfortunately this has not been possible up to now because no suitable methods have been available. However, recent advances in the development of ECT (electrical capacitance tomography) have the potential to become the driving force behind future approaches to the ambulatory monitoring and therapeutic remediation of gradually unfolding cardiogenic edema. ECT makes it possible to literally look into the lungs during prolonged ambulatory monitoring periods. In this way, ECT provides a continuous view of the regional distribution and retention of fluids throughout the pulmonary volume. This opens completely new ways for clinicians to accurately follow up gradually developing heart failure decompensation. The ECT technology is completely non-invasive and non-hazardous, and connects to the patient via an array of surface electrodes mounted on an elastic strap that attaches around the thorax. In this first paper we report on the development of a realistic morphological simulation model capable of replicating to high accuracy the bioelectrical response of the human thorax to external electrical measurement stimuli.
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