Wearable Edema Monitoring With Triggered Decompensation Alerts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for monitoring edema are cumbersome, unsuitable for continuous patient monitoring, and lack communication with healthcare providers, making it difficult to detect early signs of impending health declines such as decompensated heart failure.
Innovation Solution
A wearable device that continuously measures limb circumference, transmitting data to a control system for analysis, which sends alerts and instructions to patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers when edema trends or changes are detected, using a control loop to maintain a stable desired condition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional edema measurement methods (fluid displacement, Leg-O-Meter) are used, then measurement accuracy is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical measurement systems (fluid displacement containers, tape measure devices) with optical sensors that use light absorption and reflectivity changes to detect edema. The optical sensor system substitutes mechanical intervention with non-contact optical field measurement, achieving accurate edema detection without cumbersome equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an optical sensor as an intermediary between the patient's limb and the measurement system. Rather than directly measuring limb volume changes through mechanical means, the optical sensor detects changes in light properties (absorption, reflectivity) caused by tissue fluid changes, providing accurate edema measurement through an indirect optical pathway.
2Reliability
If continuous patient monitoring is implemented, then reliability of health detection is improved, but loss of time for data transmission and communication increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary data processing and analysis at the sensor level before transmission. The system pre-processes optical sensor signals to extract meaningful edema indicators, pre-formats data packets, and pre-establishes communication protocols. This preliminary action reduces the complexity and time required for subsequent data transmission and analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the monitoring system continuously receives health data, analyzes trends, and provides real-time alerts to patients and healthcare providers. The feedback loop includes automatic threshold comparisons, trend analysis, and notification systems that reduce manual intervention time and enable rapid response to health changes.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods of monitoring a patient. Exemplary methods include receiving sensor data associated with the patient from a plurality of sensors of a patient monitoring device and determining whether the sensor data satisfies one or more trigger conditions. For each of the trigger conditions satisfied, one or more messages are sent to at least one of the patient monitoring device and an external computing device for display thereby to at least one of the patient, a caregiver, and a support person. Satisfaction of one or more of the trigger conditions may indicate the patient has edema and/or is trending toward decompensation. The sensor data may have been collected from a heart rate sensor, an oximeter, an accelerometer, and/or a sensor configured to detect a distance around a limb of a patient. In some embodiments, the trigger conditions are provided by the patient, caregiver, and/or support person.