Chest-Worn Sensor Alignment Tool for CHF Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional implantable cardiac devices for managing congestive heart failure (CHF) have limitations such as increased surgical risks, infection incidence, and high healthcare costs due to false positives from single or limited sensing modalities, restricting their availability and effectiveness in monitoring CHF and other conditions like COPD.
Innovation Solution
An external, non-invasive chest-worn sensor system with a positioning alignment tool that uses multiple sensing modalities, including electrodes and acoustic sensors, to accurately capture cardiopulmonary data, reducing false positives and allowing patients to monitor their conditions at home without surgical risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If implantable cardiac devices are used to monitor CHF patients, then fluid retention detection capability is improved, but surgical risks and infection incidence increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the sensing functions from implantable devices and places them in external wearable devices. The external device includes electrodes, acoustic sensors, and other non-invasive sensors that can detect fluid retention, heart sounds, and other cardiopulmonary parameters without requiring surgical implantation, thereby eliminating surgical risks and infection incidence while maintaining monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The external wearable device is designed with multiple sensing modalities including electrodes for ECG and impedance measurement, acoustic sensors for heart and lung sounds, and potentially other sensors. This multi-functional design allows a single external device to perform comprehensive cardiopulmonary monitoring, replacing the need for implantable devices while providing enhanced diagnostic capability through multiple data sources.
2Device complexity
If single or limited sensing modalities are used in implantable devices, then device complexity is reduced, but false positives increase leading to unnecessary hospital readmissions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple sensing modalities into a single external wearable device system. The device combines electrodes for electrical measurements, acoustic sensors for sound detection, and potentially other sensors to gather comprehensive data. By combining these diverse sensing approaches, the system cross-validates findings and reduces false positives, improving detection accuracy without requiring complex implantable technology.
3Reliability
If implantable cardiac devices are used, then monitoring capability is improved, but healthcare costs increase due to false positives and unnecessary readmissions
Solution Approach 1:
The external wearable device enables patients to perform self-monitoring at home without requiring frequent hospital visits. Patients can independently track their cardiopulmonary status, and the device provides continuous monitoring that can detect issues early. This self-service capability reduces unnecessary hospital readmissions and associated costs while maintaining reliable monitoring through multiple sensing modalities.
4Reliability
If implantable devices are used, then patient monitoring is improved, but patient availability is restricted due to surgical qualification requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the monitoring function from implantable devices that require surgical implantation and relocates it to external wearable devices that can be applied non-invasively. This extraction allows any patient to use the monitoring device without needing to qualify for surgery, significantly expanding patient availability and accessibility while maintaining reliable monitoring capability through multiple sensing modalities.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The external sensor system enhances the detection of CHF and COPD conditions, decreases unnecessary hospital readmissions, and reduces healthcare costs by providing accurate, multi-modal data collection and analysis, while eliminating surgical risks and infections associated with implantable devices.
Implementation Method 1
an implantable cardiac device such as an ICD, CRT-D, or pacemaker can be configured to pass an electrical current across a patient's lung, and to measure the resulting intra-thoracic impedance
Implementation Method 2
an external device may include one or more electrodes, heart sounds sensors, ultrasound sensors, and photoplethysmography sensors
Data Source
AI summary
An alignment tool helps a patient position a chest-worn sensor device, such as a device for daily at-home monitoring of cardiopulmonary health conditions. The alignment tool includes a sensor connector that engages with the sensor device and a strap. The strap includes a first portion that has a protruding region sized to fit into the patient's suprasternal notch. The strap includes a second portion that engages with the sensor connector. The sensor connector and the first portion of the strap with the suprasternal notch protrusion are separated by a configurable length. A healthcare provider may set the length based on the distance between the patient's suprasternal notch and heart.