Detection of Hypotension during Hemodialysis Using the ECG

There is today a lack of clinical techniques for detecting acute hypotension during conventional hemodialysis treat-ment, despite the fact that hypotension remains the most common acute complication during hemodialysis. Hypotension is often followed by nausea, vomiting, and even fainting, not only strenuous for the patient but requires considerable attention from the nursing staff. The problem of detecting hypotension was studied by means of a multimodal database. The database consists of 30 treatments in which each treatment includes several simultaneously acquired signals. Acute symptomatic hypotension occurred in 2 of the 30 treatments. An ECG-based method for detecting hypotension has been developed. The method involves information on heart rate variability (HRV) and ectopic beat patterns. The proposed method does not only detect the two cases of acute hypotension but also provides information of the patient’s propensity to hypotension at an early stage of hemodialysis. 1