EMG Signal Processing for Respiratory Phase Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current electromyography systems for COPD patients have difficulty distinguishing between different muscle activities during breathing, leading to contamination from accessory muscles like the pectoralis major, which complicates the measurement of respiratory phases and efforts.
Innovation Solution
The system uses a second electromyography signal from a different location on the body to distinguish between muscle activities by determining a similarity signal, allowing for the differentiation between inspiratory and expiratory phases and identifying tonic versus phasic activities, thereby isolating the respiratory effort more accurately.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If surface EMG electrodes are applied to detect muscle activity, then respiratory effort can be measured non-invasively, but contamination from accessory muscles cannot be excluded
Solution Approach 1:
The measurement is divided into multiple independent components: a first EMG signal from a first location (e.g., second intercostal space) and a second EMG signal from a second location (e.g., fourth intercostal space). These segmented measurements allow differentiation between target muscle activity and accessory muscle contamination by comparing signals from different anatomical positions.
Solution Approach 2:
A similarity signal acts as an intermediary metric to compare the first and second EMG signals. This similarity measure enables the system to identify and separate target muscle activity from accessory muscle contamination without requiring invasive needle electrodes, thus maintaining non-invasive operation while improving measurement precision.
2Measurement precision
If filtering algorithms are applied to remove artifacts, then signal quality improves, but respiratory phase determination becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary comparison of EMG signals from multiple locations before final respiratory phase determination. By evaluating similarity between first and second EMG signals in advance, the system pre-identifies accessory muscle contamination and prepares cleaned respiratory phase signals, simplifying subsequent analysis while maintaining high signal quality.
3Measurement precision
If multiple EMG signals from different locations are used, then muscle activity differentiation improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of measurement location by acquiring EMG signals from at least two different intercostal spaces. This parameter change enables differentiation between target and accessory muscles through similarity comparison, achieving improved measurement precision with relatively simple processing that involves calculating a similarity metric between the multi-location signals.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to the field of medical technology and in particular to determining a respiratory activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) based on surface electromyography measurements taken from the intercostal muscles on the chest of a subject. A processing apparatus for processing an electromyography signal indicative of an activity of a target muscle in a human or animal body that relates to the measurement of respiratory effort amid an activity of at least one further muscle is presented. The processing apparatus comprises a first interface for receiving a first electromyography signal obtained from the target muscle and the further muscle at a first location on the body; a second interface for receiving a second electromyography signal obtained from the further muscle at a second location on the body; and an analysis unit for determining a similarity signal based on the first electromyography signal and the second electromyography signal, wherein the analysis unit is further configured to determine a respiratory phase as an inspiratory phase if the similarity signal obtained from the first and the second electromyography signal is below a first predetermined threshold and/or determine a respiratory phase as an expiratory phase if the similarity signal obtained from the first and the second electromyography signal exceeds a second predetermined threshold.