Method, equipment and program product for detecting distribution of inhaled atomized medicine based on EIT (electronic information technology)

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of intelligent medical treatment, in particular to an EIT-based inhaled atomized medicine distribution detection method and device and a program product. Comprising the following steps: S1, acquiring an EIT image of inhaled air and an EIT image of inhaled atomized medicine of a to-be-detected person; s2, performing difference value calculation based on the EIT image of the inhaled air and the EIT image of the inhaled atomized medicine to obtain an atomization difference value; and S3, carrying out calculation on the basis of the atomization difference value to obtain an atomized medicine distribution image. According to the application, the distribution of the atomized medicine in the body can be non-invasively, simply and conveniently quantified, and the application has a good clinical value.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of intelligent medical care, and specifically to an EIT-based distribution detection method, device, program product, and computer-readable storage medium for inhaled aerosolized drugs. Background Art

[0002] As the core drug delivery method for respiratory diseases, nebulization therapy stems from the problems of traditional systemic drug delivery methods, such as first-pass metabolic effect, low bioavailability and significant side effects. However, nebulization inhalation can deliver drugs to lesions through aerosols, significantly increasing local drug concentrations and reducing systemic exposure. It is particularly suitable for diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis and lower respiratory tract infections. In recent years, new types of nebulizer devices have been optimized and emerged one after another (such as vibrating mesh and soft mist inhalers) to improve aerosol uniformity. However, the droplet size distribution produced by different nebulizers (such as ultrasonic nebulizers and vibrating mesh nebulizers) varies greatly, affecting the deposition area of the drug in the lungs. The patient's breathing method will also affect the nebulization effect. Therefore, it is necessary to detect the distribution of nebulized drugs. Methods for detecting the distribution of nebulized drugs after inhalation include chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS / MS) and the use of radioactively labeled drugs combined with positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). However, these distribution detection methods are expensive and require radioactive labeling, which has strong radioactivity, limiting their clinical popularity. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the above issues, the present invention provides a method for detecting the distribution of inhaled aerosolized drugs based on EIT, which specifically includes:

[0004] S1. Acquire EIT images of the subject inhaling air and EIT images of the subject inhaling aerosolized medicine;

[0005] S2, performing difference calculation based on the EIT image of inhaled air and the EIT image of inhaled aerosolized drug to obtain an aerosol difference;

[0006] S3. Obtaining aerosolized drug distribution imaging based on the aerosol difference calculation.

[0007] The aerosolized medicine includes an aerosolized medicine and an aerosolized electrolyte solution, and an EIT image of the inhaled aerosolized medicine is obtained by performing real-time imaging on the subject who inhales the aerosolized electrolyte solution and the medicine through EIT;

[0008] Optionally, the atomized electrolyte solution includes one or more of the following: hypertonic saline, high-concentration potassium chloride solution, high-concentration glucose solution;

[0009] The aerosolized medicine is an aerosolized medicine added with hypertonic saline, and the EIT image of the inhaled aerosolized medicine is obtained by performing real-time imaging on the subject who inhales the hypertonic saline aerosolized medicine through EIT.

[0010] The difference calculation is to calculate the impedance difference between the EIT image pixels of the inhaled EIT image and the EIT image pixels of the inhaled atomized medicine to obtain the atomization difference.

[0011] The volume of inhaled air and the volume of inhaled aerosolized medicine are provided by constant volume, wherein the volume of inhaled air is equal to the volume of inhaled aerosolized medicine.

[0012] The constant volume is obtained by inhaling through the SVC vital capacity method;

[0013] Optionally, when the subject is wearing a ventilator, the constant volume replacement is: introducing a fixed volume of air and a fixed volume of atomized medicine through a constant volume ventilation mode;

[0014] Optionally, the constant volume replacement is: obtaining the inhaled volume by comparing the end-expiratory volume;

[0015] Alternatively, the inhaled volume is determined by comparing the end-expiratory lung volume of inhaled air with the end-expiratory volume of inhaled aerosolized medication.

[0016] The step S1 is replaced by: acquiring continuous EIT images of air and continuous EIT images of aerosolized drugs; the step S2 is replaced by: averaging the continuous EIT images of air and the continuous EIT images of aerosolized drugs to obtain an average EIT image of air and an average EIT image of aerosolized drugs; and performing a difference calculation based on the average EIT image of air and the average EIT image of aerosolized drugs to obtain an aerosol difference.

[0017] Optionally, the continuous EIT image of air and the continuous EIT image of aerosolized medicine are obtained by volume inhalation of continuous breathing for N minutes, where N is a natural number greater than or equal to 1 minute;

[0018] Optionally, the continuous EIT images of air and the continuous EIT images of aerosolized medicine are obtained by inhaling a volume of L consecutive breaths, where L is a natural number greater than or equal to 10.

[0019] An object of the present invention is to provide a computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions, wherein the computer program or instructions are executed by a processor to implement the above-mentioned EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs.

[0020] The object of the present invention is to provide a computer device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program or instruction stored on the memory, wherein the computer program or instruction is executed by the processor to implement the above-mentioned EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs.

[0021] An object of the present invention is to provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer program or instructions are executed by a processor to implement the above-mentioned EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs.

[0022] Advantages of the present invention:

[0023] 1. The present invention proposes a non-invasive method for detecting the distribution of aerosolized drugs in the body after inhalation, which is suitable for clinical testing. It does not require separate imaging photography and helps doctors to visualize the distribution of aerosolized drugs in the patient's body in real time, thereby assisting doctors in diagnosis and patient treatment supervision.

[0024] 2. The present invention uses EIT to detect changes in intrapulmonary ventilation in real time, calculates the difference between the impedance changes after aerosolized drugs and air inhalation, and reconstructs the image based on the difference to obtain the distribution image of aerosolized drugs, assisting doctors in diagnosis and using the drug distribution results to predict prognosis.

[0025] 3. Different constant-volume inhalation methods are performed for spontaneously breathing patients and ventilator-assisted patients to control the volume of inhaled air and aerosolized drugs to be the same, avoid impedance errors in the EIT generation process, and improve the reliability and accuracy of aerosolized drug distribution imaging. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0027] Figure 1 A schematic flow chart of a method for detecting the distribution of inhaled aerosolized drugs based on EIT according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of a distribution detection system for inhaled aerosolized medicine based on EIT provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of a distribution detection device for inhaled aerosolized medicine based on EIT provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 4A difference graph (distribution graph) obtained by performing difference calculation after a patient undergoes SVC constant volume inhalation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 5 Regional pulmonary function test diagram, EIT function diagram (top) and CT image (bottom) of the same patient provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 6 A graph showing the difference between air and drug calculated after constant volume inhalation when the solvent for the aerosolized drug provided by an embodiment of the present invention is water;

[0033] Figure 7 A graph showing the difference between air and drug calculated after constant volume inhalation when the solvent for the aerosolized drug provided by an embodiment of the present invention is normal saline;

[0034] Figure 8 This is a graph showing the difference between air and drug calculated after constant volume inhalation when the aerosolized drug solvent provided by an embodiment of the present invention is 5% hypertonic saline. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solutions of the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

[0036] In some of the processes described in the specification and claims of the present invention and the above-mentioned figures, multiple operations that appear in a specific order are included, but it should be clearly understood that these operations may not be executed in the order in which they appear in this article or may be executed in parallel. The serial numbers of the operations, such as S101, S102, etc., are only used to distinguish between different operations, and the serial numbers themselves do not represent any execution order. In addition, these processes may include more or fewer operations, and these operations may be executed in sequence or in parallel. It should be noted that the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. in this article are used to distinguish different messages, devices, modules, etc., and do not represent the order of precedence, nor do they limit "first" and "second" to be different types.

[0037] Figure 1 The schematic diagram of the distribution detection method of inhaled aerosolized medicine based on EIT provided in an embodiment of the present invention specifically includes:

[0038] S1: Acquire EIT images of the subject inhaling air and EIT images of the subject inhaling aerosolized medicine;

[0039] In one embodiment, the aerosolized medicine includes an aerosolized medicine and an aerosolized electrolyte solution, and an EIT image of the inhaled aerosolized medicine is obtained by performing real-time imaging of the subject who inhales the aerosolized electrolyte solution and the medicine through EIT;

[0040] Optionally, the atomized electrolyte solution includes one or more of the following: hypertonic saline, high-concentration potassium chloride solution, and high-concentration glucose solution.

[0041] In one embodiment, the aerosolized medicine is an aerosolized medicine added with hypertonic saline, and the EIT image of the inhaled aerosolized medicine is obtained by performing real-time imaging on the subject who inhales the hypertonic saline aerosolized medicine through EIT.

[0042] In one embodiment, the volume of inhaled air and the volume of inhaled aerosolized drug are provided by constant volume, wherein the volume of inhaled air is equal to the volume of inhaled aerosolized drug.

[0043] In one embodiment, the constant volume is obtained by inhaling through SVC vital capacity.

[0044] In one embodiment, the constant volume replacement is: obtaining the inspiratory volume by comparing the end-expiratory volume.

[0045] Alternatively, the inhaled volume is determined by comparing the end-expiratory lung volume of inhaled air with the end-expiratory volume of inhaled aerosolized medication.

[0046] Optionally, when the subject is wearing a ventilator, the constant volume replacement is: introducing a fixed volume of air and a fixed volume of atomized medicine through a constant volume ventilation mode.

[0047] S2: Atomization difference is obtained by performing difference calculation based on the EIT image of inhaled air and the EIT image of inhaled atomized drug;

[0048] In one embodiment, the difference calculation is to calculate the impedance difference between the EIT image pixels of the inhaled EIT image and the EIT image pixels of the inhaled aerosolized medicine to obtain the aerosol difference.

[0049] S3: Obtaining aerosolized drug distribution imaging based on the aerosol difference calculation.

[0050] In one embodiment, image reconstruction is performed based on the atomization difference to obtain atomized drug distribution imaging, wherein the image reconstruction includes but is not limited to one or more of the following: linear back projection method, nonlinear iterative optimization method, regularized reconstruction, Fourier transform reconstruction method, filtered back projection method, and convolution back projection method.

[0051] In one embodiment, S1 is replaced by: acquiring continuous EIT images of air and continuous EIT images of aerosolized drugs; S2 is replaced by: averaging the continuous EIT images of air and the continuous EIT images of aerosolized drugs to obtain an average air EIT image and an average aerosolized drug EIT image respectively; and performing difference calculation based on the average air EIT image and the average aerosolized drug EIT image to obtain an aerosol difference.

[0052] In one embodiment, the continuous EIT images of air and the continuous EIT images of aerosolized medicine are obtained by continuous volume inhalation for N minutes, where N is a natural number greater than or equal to 1 minute.

[0053] In one embodiment, the continuous EIT images of air and the continuous EIT images of aerosolized medicine are obtained by inhaling a volume of L consecutive breaths, where L is a natural number greater than or equal to 10.

[0054] In one embodiment, S1 is replaced by: obtaining the patient's breathing mode type; S2 is replaced by: obtaining an EIT image based on the breathing type, and when the breathing type is spontaneous breathing, obtaining an EIT image of inhaled air and an EIT image of inhaled atomized medicine; when the breathing type is a ventilator type, obtaining a continuous air EIT image and a continuous atomized medicine EIT image; S3 is replaced by: S3 includes parallel S31 and S32, wherein S31 is a difference calculation of the EIT image of inhaled air and the EIT image of inhaled atomized medicine to obtain an atomization difference; S32 is a mean of the continuous air EIT image and the continuous atomized medicine EIT image to obtain an average air EIT image and an average atomized medicine EIT image, and a difference calculation is performed based on the average air EIT image and the average atomized medicine EIT image to obtain an atomization difference; the method also includes S4: obtaining atomized medicine distribution imaging based on the atomization difference calculation.

[0055] In one embodiment, the parallel S31 and S32 select one of the methods to perform atomization difference calculation based on the input in S2.

[0056] In one embodiment, the method meets the clinical needs of the patient by performing parallel atomization difference calculations. Based on the patient's condition, when the patient is able to breathe independently, the atomization difference calculation is performed in S31 to obtain subsequent atomized drug distribution imaging; when the patient's condition worsens and the patient is breathing through a ventilator, the atomization difference calculation is performed in S32 to obtain subsequent atomized drug distribution imaging.

[0057] Correspondingly, when the patient's condition is relieved and he can breathe independently, the system switches to S31 mode. The method of the present invention can not only visualize the distribution of aerosolized medicine in real time, but also adjust the calculation method of the imaging process, reasonably allocate resources, and reduce computing resources.

[0058] In addition, when the patient is able to breathe spontaneously, the constant volume is inhaled through the SVC vital capacity; when the patient is breathing through a ventilator, the same volume of air and the volume of inhaled medication are inhaled or the inhaled volume is obtained through the end-tidal volume.

[0059] In one specific embodiment, EIT can monitor changes in pulmonary ventilation in real time. Since saline has a low electrical impedance, it provides a sharp contrast to normal inhaled air. This method utilizes two comparisons (the first with normal air, the second with hypertonic saline added to the nebulized liquid, for example, 5%-7%). By maintaining a constant volume, the two inhaled air volumes are then compared. The difference in gas distribution is then used to calculate the distribution of the nebulized saline. This method is applicable to all types of nebulizers.

[0060] For patients with spontaneous breathing, SVC vital capacity can be used (when SVC is performed correctly, the difference between the two volumes should be within 0.15L). For patients on mechanical ventilation, volume control can be used to ensure consistent respiratory volumes. Tidal ventilation may require a smaller volume, and the impedance difference between inhaled saline and inhaled air is difficult to discern. To achieve this, continuous breathing can be performed for a certain time (greater than or equal to one minute) or a certain number of times (greater than or equal to ten) using volume control, and the average value can be calculated and then the difference can be calculated. Alternatively, the corresponding end-expiratory lung volumes can be compared and the difference calculated based on this comparison.

[0061] In one embodiment, the difference between saline and air inhalation is calculated by SVC as shown in FIG. Figure 4 As shown in the figure, orange is where the saline is distributed (where the impedance decreases). The patient also underwent regional lung function tests, such as Figure 5 As shown, in Figure 5 In the upper image, the patient's left lung (right side) is severely restricted in flow velocity, consistent with the saline-inaccessible area in the upper image. In the lower image, CT scans also show severe left bronchiectasis. This demonstrates that the aerosolized drug distribution achieved by the proposed method is consistent with the patient's lung regions and can be visualized, demonstrating its excellent clinical (bedside) application value.

[0062] In one embodiment, the comparison results of the electrolyte solutions of hypertonic saline, pure water, and normal saline in the aerosolized drug are as follows: at 25°C, the conductivity of pure water is about 0.05–1 µS / cm, that of normal saline is about 1.5 mS / cm, and that of 5% hypertonic saline is about 7.5 mS / cm. When pure water is used as the solvent for the aerosolized drug, the tester performs SVC volume control to obtain EIT images of the inhaled air and EIT images of the inhaled aerosolized drug. The difference between the two EIT images is calculated to generate an aerosolized drug distribution image, as shown in FIG. Figure 6 As shown, the blue value is the percentage of ventilation increase in tidal volume, and the orange value is the percentage of ventilation decrease in tidal volume. When normal saline solution is used as the solvent for nebulized drugs, the tester performs SVC volume control to obtain EIT images of inhaled air and EIT images of inhaled nebulized drugs. The difference between the two EIT images is calculated to generate the nebulized drug distribution image, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 7As shown in the figure; when 5% hypertonic saline is used as the nebulized drug, the tester performs SVC volume control to obtain EIT images of inhaled air and EIT images of inhaled nebulized drugs. The difference between the two EIT images is calculated to generate the nebulized drug distribution imaging, as shown in the figure. Figure 8 As shown in the figure, hypertonic saline added to or used as an electrolyte solution for nebulized drugs has a stronger sensitivity than ordinary solvents or normal saline, solving the problem of insufficient sensitivity of conventional solvents for nebulized drugs. The effect of hypertonic saline is more conducive to the imaging of nebulized drug distribution.

[0063] The disclosed embodiments of the present invention further provide a computer program product or system, including a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the above-mentioned EIT-based method steps for detecting the distribution of inhaled aerosolized drugs.

[0064] Figure 2 The schematic diagram of the distribution detection system for inhaled aerosolized drugs based on EIT provided in an embodiment of the present invention specifically includes:

[0065] Acquisition unit: acquires EIT images of the subject inhaling air and EIT images of the subject inhaling aerosolized medicine;

[0066] Difference unit: performs difference calculation based on the EIT image of inhaled air and the EIT image of inhaled atomized drug to obtain the atomization difference;

[0067] Distribution unit: obtains atomized drug distribution imaging based on the atomization difference calculation.

[0068] Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the distribution detection device for inhaled aerosolized medicine based on EIT provided in an embodiment of the present invention specifically includes:

[0069] A memory and a processor; the memory is used to store program instructions; the processor is used to call the program instructions, and when the program instructions are executed, any one of the above-mentioned EIT-based inhaled aerosol drug distribution detection methods is implemented.

[0070] The disclosed embodiments of the present invention further provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, is any one of the above-mentioned methods for detecting the distribution of inhaled aerosolized drugs based on EIT.

[0071] The validation results of this validation example demonstrate that assigning inherent weights to indications can improve the performance of the present method compared to the default settings. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that, for ease of description and brevity, the specific operating processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referenced to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be further elaborated upon here. It should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other ways within the several embodiments provided herein. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of units described is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other divisions may be employed, such as combining or integrating multiple units or components into another system, or omitting or disabling certain features. Furthermore, the coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection shown or discussed may be through interfaces, indirect coupling, or communication connection between devices or units, and may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms. The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, i.e., they may be located in one location or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected to achieve the objectives of the present embodiment as needed. In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units. Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps in the various methods of the above-mentioned embodiments may be completed by instructing the relevant hardware through a program, and the program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, which may include: a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0072] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps in the above-mentioned embodiment method can be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a program, and the program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The above-mentioned medium storage can be a read-only memory, a disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0073] The above is a detailed introduction to a computer device provided by the present invention. For those skilled in the art, according to the concept of the embodiments of the present invention, there may be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for detecting the distribution of inhaled aerosolized drugs based on EIT, characterized in that: include: S1. Acquire EIT images of the subject inhaling air and EIT images of the subject inhaling aerosolized medicine; S2, performing difference calculation based on the EIT image of inhaled air and the EIT image of inhaled aerosolized drug to obtain an aerosol difference; S3. Obtaining aerosolized drug distribution imaging based on the aerosol difference calculation.

2. The EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs according to claim 1, characterized in that: The aerosolized medicine includes an aerosolized medicine and an aerosolized electrolyte solution, and an EIT image of the inhaled aerosolized medicine is obtained by performing real-time imaging on the subject who inhales the aerosolized electrolyte solution and the medicine through EIT; Optionally, the atomized electrolyte solution includes one or more of the following: hypertonic saline, high-concentration potassium chloride solution, and high-concentration glucose solution.

3. The EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs according to claim 1, characterized in that: The aerosolized medicine is an aerosolized medicine added with hypertonic saline, and the EIT image of the inhaled aerosolized medicine is obtained by performing real-time imaging on the subject who inhales the hypertonic saline aerosolized medicine through EIT.

4. The EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs according to claim 1, characterized in that: The difference calculation is to calculate the impedance difference between the EIT image pixels of the inhaled EIT image and the EIT image pixels of the inhaled atomized medicine to obtain the atomization difference.

5. The EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs according to claim 1, characterized in that: The volume of inhaled air and the volume of inhaled aerosolized medicine are provided by constant volume, wherein the volume of inhaled air is equal to the volume of inhaled aerosolized medicine.

6. The EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs according to claim 5, characterized in that: The constant volume is obtained by inhaling through the SVC vital capacity method; The constant volume is obtained by inhaling through the SVC vital capacity method; Optionally, when the subject is wearing a ventilator, the constant volume replacement is: introducing a fixed volume of air and a fixed volume of atomized medicine through a constant volume ventilation mode; Optionally, the constant volume replacement is: obtaining the inhaled volume by comparing the end-expiratory volume; Alternatively, the inhaled volume is determined by comparing the end-expiratory lung volume of inhaled air with the end-expiratory volume of inhaled aerosolized medication.

7. The EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized drugs according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step S1 is replaced by: acquiring continuous EIT images of air and continuous EIT images of aerosolized drugs; the step S2 is replaced by: averaging the continuous EIT images of air and the continuous EIT images of aerosolized drugs to obtain an average EIT image of air and an average EIT image of aerosolized drugs; and performing a difference calculation based on the average EIT image of air and the average EIT image of aerosolized drugs to obtain an aerosol difference. Optionally, the continuous EIT image of air and the continuous EIT image of aerosolized medicine are obtained by volume inhalation of continuous breathing for N minutes, where N is a natural number greater than or equal to 1 minute; Optionally, the continuous EIT images of air and the continuous EIT images of aerosolized medicine are obtained by inhaling a volume of L consecutive breaths, where L is a natural number greater than or equal to 10.

8. A computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions, characterized in that: The computer program or instructions are executed by a processor to implement the EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized medicine according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. A computer device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program or instruction stored in the memory, wherein: The computer program or instructions are executed by a processor to implement the EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized medicine according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon, characterized in that: The computer program or instructions are executed by a processor to implement the EIT-based distribution detection method for inhaled aerosolized medicine according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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