Christian Meyer, Christiane Peiker, Jens Muehlsteff, Kiran Dellimore1, Rene Derkx, Vincent Aarts
08:45 - 09:00 | Wed 26 Aug | Space 4 | WeAT20.2
Pulse detection via palpation is a basic and essential procedure in daily medical practice. We have been investigating the performance of a single accelerometer (ACC) placed above the carotid artery, which is one of the recommended locations for manual palpation. A low-cost sensor attached by an adhesive measures accelerations due to carotid dilatations and whole body vibrations. A real-time demonstrator has been developed to classify 10 second- windows in Pulse, Motion and No Pulse and to infer pulse rate. Data were obtained during a scheduled head-up tilt table test (HUTT). Our results show for a subgroup of 10 patients with acute hypotension a wide spread of good signal coverage ranging from as low as 37% up to 100%. Key factors compromising the performance in HUTT are motion artifacts, arrhythmias, sensor placement and sensor-skin coupling. In conclusion, pulse detection with a single accelerometer is sufficiently accurate, if good signal coverage can be achieved.