Development of a portable wireless system for bipolar concentric ECG recording

[EN] Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the biggest cause of deaths worldwide. ECG monitoring is a key tool for early diagnosis of CVDs. Conventional monitors use monopolar electrodes resulting in poor spatial resolution surface recordings and requiring extensive wiring. High-spatial resolution surface electrocardiographic recordings provide valuable information for the diagnosis of a wide range of cardiac abnormalities, including infarction and arrhythmia. The aim of this work was to develop and test a wireless recording system for acquiring high spatial resolution ECG signals, based on a flexible tripolar concentric electrode (TCE) without cable wiring or external reference electrode which would make more comnfortable its use in clinical practice. For this, a portable, wireless sensor node for analogue conditioning, digitalization and transmission of a bipolar concentric ECG signal (BC-ECG) using a TCE and a Mason-likar Lead-I ECG (ML-Lead-I ECG) signal was developed. Experimental results from a total of 32 healthy volunteers showed that the ECG fiducial points in the BC-ECG signals, recorded with external and internal reference electrode, are consistent with those of simultaneous ML-Lead-I ECG. No statistically significant difference was found in either signal amplitude or morphology, regardless of the reference electrode used, being the signal-to-noise similar to that of ML-Lead-I ECG. Furthermore, it has been observed that BC-ECG signals contain information that could not available in conventional records, specially related to atria activity. The proposed wireless sensor node provides non-invasive high-local resolution ECG signals using only a TCE without additional wiring, which would have great potential in medical diagnosis of diseases such as atrial or ventricular fibrillations or arrhythmias that currently require invasive diagnostic procedures (catheterization).Research supported in part by: a grant from the Conselleria d'Educacio, Cultura i Esport, Generalitat Valenciana Conselleria (GV/2014/029), a grant from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (SP20120490) and by a VLC_Campus grant (Prematuro ID34).Prats-Boluda, G.; Ye Lin, Y.; Bueno Barrachina, JM.; Senent, E.; Rodríguez De Sanabria Gil, R.; Garcia-Casado, J. (2015). Development of a portable wireless system for bipolar concentric ECG recording. Measurement Science and Technology. 26(7):1-10. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/26/7/07510211026