WO2022199619A1 - Évaluation pulmonaire basée sur la tomographie par impédance électrique - Google Patents

Évaluation pulmonaire basée sur la tomographie par impédance électrique Download PDF

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WO2022199619A1
WO2022199619A1 PCT/CN2022/082511 CN2022082511W WO2022199619A1 WO 2022199619 A1 WO2022199619 A1 WO 2022199619A1 CN 2022082511 W CN2022082511 W CN 2022082511W WO 2022199619 A1 WO2022199619 A1 WO 2022199619A1
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lung
subject
eit
computer
implemented method
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PCT/CN2022/082511
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English (en)
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Russell Wade CHAN
Fedi ZOUARI
Luca MINCIULLO
Dipyaman MODAK
Pak Heng Justin CHAN
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Gense Technologies Limited
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    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/05—Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves 
    • A61B5/053—Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of a portion of the body
    • A61B5/0536—Impedance imaging, e.g. by tomography
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/08—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs
    • A61B5/0809—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs by impedance pneumography
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/08—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs
    • A61B5/087—Measuring breath flow
    • A61B5/0871—Peak expiratory flowmeters
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/08—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs
    • A61B5/091—Measuring volume of inspired or expired gases, e.g. to determine lung capacity

Definitions

  • the invention relates to systems and methods for analyzing electrical impedance tomography (EIT) data for lung health assessment.
  • EIT electrical impedance tomography
  • the invention can be implemented as a diagnostic tool.
  • Lung diseases can be irreversible, and early diagnosis of these diseases may not be readily available.
  • COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • Conventional clinical assessment and pulmonary function tests typically utilizes spirometry and CT scans. These methods lack regional lung functional assessment and may not be sensitive to early-stages of lung diseases.
  • these existing diagnosing techniques are mostly non-portable, require skilled operators, expensive, and/or harmful.
  • a method /technique for calculating or determining voxel-wise respiratory-related parameters to assess the lungs health of the users comprises: analyzing EIT signals measured at, at least, one or more or all of the following breathing modes: (1) guided breathing, (2) spontaneous breathing, and (3) forced expiration and inspiration.
  • the guided breathing mode is used for calibrating the measurement system and extracting lung clusters.
  • the guided breathing and spontaneous breathing are used to infer respiratory parameters such as the breathing amplitude, relative phase delay of different lung segments (voxels) , spatial lung homogeneity, etc.
  • the forced expiration and inspiration breathing mode is used to infer respiratory parameters related to the maximum lung capacity and speed to inhale and exhale air.
  • the forced expiration and inspiration follows the standard spirometry test protocol set by the American Thoracic Society.
  • voxel-wise standard spirometry indicators can be inferred.
  • Additional breathing mode (s) may be used.
  • a system for determining or calculating respiratory-related parameters to assess the lungs health of the users comprising: means for measuring EIT signals at, at least, three breathing modes: (1) guided breathing mode, (2) spontaneous breathing mode, and (3) forced expiration and inspiration mode.
  • the system further comprises means configured to implement techniques for inferring activated lungs regions, quantifying respiratory-related indicators and their spatial distribution across the lungs.
  • a computer-implemented method for lung health assessment comprising: receiving EIT data associated with a lung of a subject; and processing the received EIT data to determine a health condition of the lung of the subject.
  • the EIT data is raw EIT data.
  • the EIT data is obtained from the subject or the subject’s lung during a guided breathing operation.
  • the subject periodically or regularly inhales and exhales, optionally with a predetermined number of breaths per minute.
  • the EIT data is obtained from the subject or the subject’s lung during a forced breathing operation.
  • the subject first takes a predetermined number of shallow breaths, then inhales to maximum or medium lung capacity, then exhales abruptly or slowly, then inhales to maximum or medium lung capacity, then exhales to normal breathing exhalation volume, and finally takes a predetermined number of shallow breaths.
  • the EIT data is obtained from the subject or the subject’s lung during a spontaneous breathing operation.
  • the spontaneous breathing operation is an unguided operation in which the subject can breathe unguided.
  • the processing comprises: denoising the received EIT data; and reconstructing time-difference EIT images based on the denoised EIT data.
  • the denoising comprises: filtering the EIT data; and/or adjusting outlier measurements in the EIT data based on reference voltage data.
  • the reconstruction is performed using a Gauss–Newton method, such as a one-step linear Gauss-Newton solver optionally with a regularization matrix based on the Newton's one-step error re-constructor prior.
  • a Gauss–Newton method such as a one-step linear Gauss-Newton solver optionally with a regularization matrix based on the Newton's one-step error re-constructor prior.
  • the processing further comprises, for each time series of the time-difference EIT images: determining a global conductivity measure or curve that represents a dominant conductivity signal in the time series due to breathing of the subject; determining an amplitude measure or map that represents a local conductivity variation at different voxels of the images, and/or determining a correlation measure or map that represents voxel-wise correlation between the global conductivity-time curve and the respective local conductivity-time curve.
  • the global conductivity measure or curve is determined based on feature selection through filtering and signal extraction.
  • the processing further comprises analyzing the global conductivity curve, the amplitude map, and/or the correlation map to determine the health condition of the lung of the subject.
  • the processing further comprises, for each time series of the time-difference EIT images: determining one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps, each of which is related to a respective indicator measure.
  • the one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps are determined based on the global conductivity curve and a voxel-wise conductivity curve.
  • the indicator measure is spirometry indicator measure
  • the one or more parametric functional indicator comprise: maximum volume engaged (MVE) corresponding to forced vital capacity (FVC) measure; exhaled volume in 1 second (EV1) corresponding to forced expiration volume in 1 second (FEV1) measure; exhaled volume in 1 second (EV1) to maximum volume engaged (MVE) ratio corresponding to forced expiration volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio measure; maximum expiration flow (MVE) corresponding to peak expiratory flow (PEF) measure; and/or expiratory flow at 25-75%of maximum volume engaged (EF25-75%) corresponding to forced expiratory flow at 25–75%of forced vital capacity (FEF25–75%) measure.
  • MVE maximum volume engaged
  • FVC forced vital capacity
  • the processing further comprises: processing the one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps with a model, e.g., a regression model, to determine a spirometry indicator measure of the subject.
  • This spirometry indicator measure is determined for EIT data obtained using the forced breathing operation.
  • the processing further comprises: processing the one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps with a model, e.g., a regression model, to determine an indicator of the subject indicative of lung condition, the indicator comprises amplitude, activated voxels, and /or coefficient of variation, which are non-spirometry indicator.
  • a model e.g., a regression model
  • the non-spirometry indicator is determined for EIT data obtained using the guided breathing operation or spontaneous breathing operation.
  • a system for lung health assessment comprising one or more processors arranged to: receive EIT data associated with a lung of a subject; and process the received EIT data to determine a health condition of the lung of the subject.
  • the one or more processors may be arranged to perform the method of the third aspect.
  • the system further comprises a display for displaying the processing results.
  • non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform the method of the third aspect.
  • Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a data analysis pipeline for guided breathing mode in one embodiment.
  • Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a data analysis pipeline for spontaneous breathing mode in one embodiment.
  • Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a data analysis pipeline for forced expiration and inspiration mode in one embodiment.
  • Figure 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for lung health assessment in one embodiment.
  • Figure 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating four guided breathing paradigms, including a combination of full or mid capacity inhale, and fast or slow exhale, under the forced breathing mode in some embodiments.
  • Figure 4C contain graphs showing the correlating of EIT-derived parameters and spirometry indicators in some embodiments.
  • MVE Maximal volume engaged
  • EV1 exhaled volume in 1 second
  • MEF maximum expiratory flow
  • EF25-75% expiratory flow at 25-75%of maximum volume engaged
  • Figure 4D contain parametric maps of the EIT-derived spirometry indicators in some embodiments.
  • Figure 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for lung health assessment in one embodiment.
  • Figure 5B contain graphs and plots showing the plots of shallow and deep breathing modes in one embodiment.
  • Figure 5C contain graphs and plots showing measurements taken from COVID-19 discharged subject and controls.
  • Figure 5D contain graphs and plots showing measurements taken from COVID-19 discharged subject and controls.
  • Figure 5E contain graphs and plots showing measurements taken from COVID-19 discharged subject and controls.
  • Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of a portable EIT console in one embodiment.
  • Figure 7 is a schematic block diagram of a lung health assessment system in one embodiment.
  • Figure 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a general processing method for processing EIT lung data for lung health assessment in one embodiment.
  • Figure 9A contain plots illustrating the definition of lung ROI in one embodiment.
  • Figure 9B contain graphs illustrating regional EIT-derived indicators in one embodiment.
  • Figure 10 contain graphs illustrating measurements taken from shallow and deep breathing modes.
  • Figure 11 contain graphs of both training and testing sets of the EIT-derived spirometry indicators in some embodiments.
  • Some embodiments of the present invention are to measure EIT signals for three breathing modes: (1) guided breathing, (2) spontaneous breathing, and/or (3) forced expiration and inspiration.
  • FIG. 1 a data analysis pipeline for the guided breathing mode is illustrated.
  • the tomographic conductivity images (106) are computed by a standard EIT image reconstruction technique.
  • the series of conductivity images are spatially filtered to remove spatial noise and temporally filtered to reject signals that are not related to breathing (108) .
  • a voxel-wise breathing amplitude map is calculated from the filtered waveforms (110) . From the waveform at each voxel, a set of maximum conductivity changes are computed over a time-window that includes at least one breathing cycle.
  • the breathing amplitude at a specific voxel is defined as an average of the set of maximum conductivity changes.
  • a major breathing waveform (114) is extracted using feature selection (through filtering and signal extraction) over the breathing waveforms of the voxels with the largest breathing amplitude (112) .
  • the correlation between the major waveform and the voxel’s waveform are computed, resulting in a correlation map (116) .
  • the lung clusters are obtained by segmentation of the breathing amplitude map weighed with the correlation map (118) .
  • the breathing waveforms at the lung clusters are then analyzed to extract indicators.
  • the preferred data analysis pipeline for the spontaneous breathing mode is illustrated.
  • the filtered series of the conductivity images (208) is obtained as in the guided breathing mode following the steps (202-206) .
  • the lung clusters (118/210) obtained from the guided breathing test can be employed to analyze the waveforms within the lung regions.
  • the analysis of the waveforms within the lung regions is used to infer respiratory related parameters including but not limited to breathing amplitude, relative phase delay of different lung segments (voxels) , and spatial lung homogeneity (212) .
  • Quantitative measures of lung health are assessed by multiple order statistics of the aforementioned parameters at specific regions of interest (ROIs) (214) .
  • ROIs regions of interest
  • FIG 3 the preferred data analysis pipeline for the forced expiration and inspiration mode is illustrated.
  • the filtered series of the conductivity images (308) is obtained as in the guided breathing mode following the steps (302-306) .
  • the lung clusters (118/310) obtained from the guided breathing test can be employed to analyze the waveforms within the lung regions.
  • the conductivity waveforms at different voxels are regularized by fitting to a mathematical model, including but not limited to a generalized high order piecewise polynomial and a double logistic curve (312) .
  • the regularized waveforms induce a better estimation of the respiratory parameters.
  • the analysis of the conductivity waveforms and conductivity loops within the lung regions is used to infer respiratory parameters related to the maximum lung capacity and speed to inhale and exhale air (316) .
  • the forced expiration and inspiration follows the standard spirometry test protocol set by the American Thoracic Society. With appropriate calibration of the EIT measurement, voxel-wise standard spirometry indicators can be inferred.
  • Quantitative measures of lung health are assessed by multiple order statistics of the aforementioned parameters at specific regions of interest (ROIs) (318) .
  • the inventors of the present invention have designed and devised, through research, experiments and trials, a portable EIT system for use in lung function assessment.
  • FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a portable EIT console in one embodiment of the invention.
  • the EIT console generally includes a power management module for constant power supply, a current generation module for alternating current generation, a signal distribution and readout module for current injection and voltage readout, a data acquisition module for potential difference measurement, amplification and acquisition, and a control and output module for module coordination, data processing and cloud-server communication.
  • the EIT console includes an EIT console having 5 major modules:
  • Current generation module hat primarily includes a digitally programmable analog sine wave generator and a constant current generator successively to generate an alternating current of 1 mApp and a voltage amplitude of 1 Vpp.
  • a low-pass filter is used to suppress total harmonic distortion and ambient electromagnetic interference (e.g., power line noise) .
  • C Signal distribution and readout module that introduces the generated current to the subject via the 16-electrode belt using a set of CMOS multiplexers (MUXs) .
  • MUXs CMOS multiplexers
  • Four MUXs are used, in which two MUXs are employed for current injection and the other two for voltage readout.
  • the MUXs are configured into the adjacent-scan pattern through the microcontroller unit (MCU) .
  • D Data acquisition module that is the analog front-end (AFE) that acquires, measures and amplifies the potential differences from the electrodes.
  • the AFE comprises a four-stage wide input differential amplifier with high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) , and a bandpass filter.
  • CMRR common-mode rejection ratio
  • Control and output module that includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) , a MCU and a wireless communication chip.
  • ADC analog-to-digital converter
  • MCU MCU
  • wireless communication chip The potential differences obtained from the data acquisition module are digitized by a 12-bit ADC, processed in the MCU unit, and transferred to the cloud server for image reconstruction and processing.
  • FIG. 7 shows a lung health assessment system in one embodiment.
  • the lung health assessment system includes, generally, a mobile app, a cloud server, and an EIT console, which may be the console of Figure 6.
  • the mobile app, cloud server, and EIT console cooperate to facilitate lung health assessment.
  • the EIT console is first connected to Wi-Fi, either automatically or manually. Users will then be instructed to wear the electrode belt, and electrode quality will be analyzed. Once a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is achieved or a force-start is triggered, the lung function assessment will begin. Finally, the acquired raw data will be transferred to the image reconstruction and processing pipeline, and results will be displayed.
  • SNR signal-to-noise ratio
  • the mobile app guides users to connect the console and wear the electrode belt, instructs users to perform breathing paradigms, commands the console to acquire and transfer EIT-data for processing, and displays lung functional assessment results.
  • the acquired data is then denoised, and time-difference EIT images are reconstructed and processed to generate functional maps, and EIT-derived indicators are extracted.
  • FIG 8 An exemplary operation pipeline (that makes use of the EIT system) is shown in Figure 4A and a general processing flow (that makes use of the EIT system) in shown in Figure 8.
  • Figure 8 illustrates that global and regional indicators and functional maps are obtained through multiple processing stages.
  • a reference is first chosen from the measured voltage data then the raw data is denoised.
  • Time difference conductivity images are then reconstructed from all measured frames and from the reference data.
  • spatial and temporal filtering is applied to the series of reconstructed images from which global functional indicators and waveform are extracted.
  • the series of EIT images and the global waveform are used to define the regions of interest which are then used to extract regional indicators and functional maps.
  • simultaneous EIT and spirometry are applied with four different breathing paradigms to simulate a wide dynamic range, including a combination of full or mid capacity inhale, and fast or slow exhale (Figure 4B) .
  • Maximal volume engaged (MVE) exhaled volume in 1 second (EV1) , EV1/MVE ratio, maximum expiratory flow (MEF) , and expiratory flow at 25–75%of maximum volume engaged (EF25-75%) are calculated (further described below) .
  • EIT-derived indicators are significantly correlated with spirometry indicators across a wide dynamic range, demonstrating the portable EIT system has standard spirometry capabilities (Figure 4C) .
  • EIT parametric maps (Figure 4D) and regional EIT-derived indicators are consistent with the four corresponding breathing paradigms, signifying the portable EIT system allows regional lung function assessment.
  • Some embodiments of the invention also provide a guided breathing paradigm which includes a periodic inhalation and exhalation at a predetermined number of (e.g., 12) breaths per minute (Figure 5A) , and its corresponding processing pipeline (further described below) .
  • the amplitude maps, total amplitude, conductivity-time curve, and frequency spectra exhibited higher amplitude during deep breathing compared to shallow breathing, demonstrating this close-to-effortless method can reflect global and regional changes in lung function (Figures 5B and 10) . It is observed that the right lung has significantly more activated voxels and significantly higher total amplitude compared to the left (Figure 5B) , likely due to the positioning of the heart within the left thorax.
  • COVID-19 discharged subject is longitudinally monitored with two age-and gender-matched controls.
  • the COVID-19 discharged subject have higher coefficient of variation (C.V.; Figure 5C) , suggesting lung function deterioration.
  • C.V. significantly decreased across time in the left lung of the COVID-19 discharged subject ( Figure 5D) , suggesting a functional deterioration at the beginning followed by a recovery.
  • Regional analysis further pin-pointed the potential deterioration and recovery is in the anterior left lung ( Figure 5E) .
  • Figure 10 illustrates EIT with guided breathing paradigm in some embodiments can quantify lung functional changes.
  • Shallow and deep breathing modes were applied to test the sensitivity of this close-to-effortless breathing paradigm.
  • the right lung has significantly more activated voxels and significantly higher total amplitude compared to the left in both shallow and deep breathing modes, likely due to the positioning of the heart within the left thorax.
  • the total amplitude was higher during deep breathing compared to shallow breathing, while activated voxels remained similar.
  • ***p ⁇ 0.001. Error bars indicate ⁇ standard error of mean.
  • Figures 4A-4D generally illustrate that EIT or EIT system enables global and regional lung function assessment.
  • Figure 4A shows an EIT system in one embodiment including a portable console, electrode belt, mobile app interface, and cloud-based processing pipeline.
  • Raw EIT data is first acquired followed by denoising, time-difference EIT image reconstruction, and lung function mapping. Further analysis is applied to extract lung functional indicators.
  • Figure 4A shows four different breathing paradigms, including a combination of full or mid capacity inhale, and fast or slow exhale. Simultaneous EIT and spirometry were applied with these paradigms.
  • Figure 4C shows that EIT-derived indicators are significantly correlated with spirometry indicators across a wide dynamic range, demonstrating the EIT system has standard spirometry capabilities.
  • Figure 4D shows calculated parametric maps that allow regional lung function assessment.
  • MVE Maximal volume engaged
  • EV1 exhaled volume in 1 second
  • MEF maximum expiratory flow
  • EF25-75% expiratory flow at 25-75%of maximum volume engaged
  • Figures 5A-5E generally illustrate a guided breathing paradigm that can quantify global and regional lung functional changes in some embodiments.
  • Figure 5A shows that the paradigm is a periodic inhale and exhale pattern at 12 breaths per minute (bpm) .
  • Figure 5B shows shallow and deep breathing modes were applied to test the sensitivity of this method.
  • Activated voxels and total amplitude were extracted from the left and right lungs.
  • the right lung has significantly more activated voxels and significantly higher total amplitude compared to the left.
  • the amplitude maps, total amplitude, conductivity time curve, and frequency spectra exhibited higher amplitude during deep breathing compared to shallow breathing, while activated voxels remained similar.
  • Figures 5C-E show measurements for a COVID-19 discharged subject (longitudinally monitored) along with two age-and gender-matched controls.
  • Figure 5C shows the COVID-19 discharged subject had higher C.V., suggesting lung function deterioration. Note the right lung has significantly more activated voxels and significantly higher total amplitude.
  • Figure 5D shows C.V. significantly decreased across time in the left lung of the COVID-19 discharged subject, suggesting a functional deterioration at the beginning followed by a recovery.
  • Figure 5E shows regional analysis further pin-pointed deterioration and recovery in the anterior left lung. *p ⁇ 0.05, **p ⁇ 0.01, and ***p ⁇ 0.001. Error bars indicate ⁇ standard error of mean. Abbreviations: arbitrary unit (a.u. ) ; coefficient of variation (C.V. ) .
  • the EIT system includes an electrode lung belt for emitting and receiving electrical signals and a portable EIT console ( Figure 4A) .
  • the electrode belt includes an elastic band with 16 equally spaced carbon gel electrodes (BJD-A, Bestpad, Shenzhen, China) .
  • the elastic electrode belts come in sizes ranging from 65 cm –120 cm in length with extendable range of 10%of its original length. Sixteen 4 x 4 cm 2 electrodes are used for belts longer than or equal to 75 cm, while the same electrodes are trimmed to 3 x 4 cm 2 for belts shorter than 75 cm to avoid contact between adjacent electrodes.
  • the portable EIT console includes the following functional modules.
  • a power management module provides constant power supply to all other electronic modules through the power socket or the Li-ion battery.
  • a current generation module primarily includes a digitally programmable analog sine wave generator and a current generator successively to generate an alternating current (a.c) of 1 mApp and a voltage amplitude of 1 Vpp.
  • a lowpass filter is used to suppress total harmonic distortion and ambient electromagnetic interference (e.g., power line noise) .
  • a signal distribution and readout module introduces the generated current to the subject via the 16-electrode belt using a set of CMOS multiplexers (MUXs) .
  • MUXs CMOS multiplexers
  • a data acquisition module is the analog front-end (AFE) that acquires, measures, and amplifies the differential voltage from the electrodes.
  • the AFE comprises a four-stage wide input differential amplifier with high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) , and a bandpass filter.
  • a control and output module includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) , an MCU and a wireless communication chip.
  • ADC analog-to-digital converter
  • the differential voltage obtained from the data acquisition module are digitized by three 12-bit ADCs using triple interleaved ADC method to achieve higher sampling rate, processed in the MCU unit, and transferred to the cloud server for image reconstruction and processing.
  • an alternating current (AC) of frequency 35kHz is injected sequentially between all adjacent electrode pairs and the potential differences are measured across other 13 adjacent electrode pairs.
  • a data frame consisting of 208 (16 ⁇ 13) differential voltage measurements is acquired at a rate of 33 frames per second.
  • the observed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ranged from 45-55 dB.
  • two breathing paradigms are defined: a forced breathing paradigm and a guided breathing paradigm.
  • the subjects performed all breathing modes in the upright position.
  • the subjects are guided by the curves shown in Figure 4B to perform three shallow breaths at a rate of 18 cycles per minute, followed by an inhalation to their maximum (or mid) lung capacity. Subsequently, they are instructed to exhale fast and abruptly (or slowly) during an exhalation segment lasting for 6 seconds. At the end of the exhalation phase, the subjects are guided to inhale again to their maximum (or mid) lung capacity, followed by an exhalation to their normal breathing exhalation volume, and lastly another three guided shallow breaths at a rate of 18 cycles per minute. The full paradigm lasted about 26 seconds.
  • the middle section of the inhale and exhale have four variants resulting in four types of breathing efforts which we denoted as full inhale and fast exhale, full inhale and slow exhale, mid inhale and fast exhale, and mid inhale and slow exhale.
  • the subjects are instructed to breathe into and out of the spirometry device (Spirobank Smart, Medical International Research, Italy) via a mouthpiece to acquire the spirometry indicators and the volume-time curves during the forced exhalation phase.
  • the subjects are instructed to follow the breathing instructions on a screen for 60 seconds as shown in Figure 5A, which includes regular inhale-and-exhale cycles at a constant rate of 12 breaths per minute.
  • forced breathing paradigm and the guided breathing paradigm can be modified in other embodiments to have other pattern and/or duration.
  • a total of 26 subjects are recruited for testing the system/method embodiments of the invention. 14 subjects performed around 20 repetitions of forced breathing paradigm (Figure 4B-4D) , 9 subjects performed around 4 repetitions of guided breathing with deep and shallow breathing modes (Figure 5B) , and a COVID-19 discharged subject and two age-and gender-matched healthy controls performed guided breathing across a span of 10 days (Figure 5C-5E) .
  • the COVID-19 discharged subject conducted the tests by himself with a similar but separate system.
  • the current generation module of this system included a 12-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a current generator successively to generate an alternating current (ac) of amplitude 1-2 mApp.
  • the AFE comprised two non-inverting amplifiers and two 12-bit ADC for signal acquisition.
  • FVC forced vital capacity
  • FEV1 forced expiration volume in 1 second
  • FEV1/FVC ratio peak expiratory flow
  • PEF peak expiratory flow
  • FEF25–75% forced expiratory flow at 25–75%of forced vital capacity
  • the first type is the spirometry-like forced breathing paradigm, i.e., inhale to full capacity, and exhale as fast as possible. This is to obtain the largest possible values of MVE, EV1, EV1/MVE, MEF and EF25-75%.
  • the second type is to inhale to the full capacity but exhale slowly. This is to simulate a low EV1, EV1/MVE, MEF and EF25-75%, while MVE remains high.
  • the third type is to inhale to mid capacity, and exhale as fast as possible. This is to simulate a low MVE, and a high EV1/MVE.
  • the fourth type is to inhale to mid capacity and exhale slowly. This is to simulate a low MVE, EV1, EV1/MVE, MEF and EF25-75%.
  • Image reconstruction and processing steps in some embodiments are as follows.
  • the reference voltage data frame for time-difference EIT image reconstruction is set to the mean data frame across the full time-series after gain normalization.
  • Individual data frames are denoised by setting outlier voltage values above and below system thresholds to the corresponding value in the reference data frame.
  • NOSER Newton's one-step error reconstructor
  • the initially reconstructed time-series EIT images are interpolated into a new time-grid of regular sampling rate, resulting in a new series of timestamp-corrected EIT images. Further spatiotemporal filtering is applied on every 3D spatiotemporal image series to reduce temporal noise and spatial artifacts.
  • a 0.8s-wide moving average is used to filter the temporal waveforms at each voxel.
  • a 3rd order Butterworth filter of 0.083 –0.5 Hz passband is used to filter out the irrelevant signals embedded in temporal waveforms at each voxel, such as the cardiac related signals (i.e., 60 –80 beats per minute) , but to keep breathing related signals (i.e., 5 –30 breaths per minute) .
  • the filtered image series is then transformed from corresponding initial triangular simplices into a 64 ⁇ 64-voxel rectangular grid by using interpolation weights defined by a sigmoid function.
  • a global conductivity curve For each time-series of images, a global conductivity curve, an amplitude map and a correlation map are calculated.
  • the global conductivity curve represents the dominant conductivity signal due to breathing and is obtained by a weighted sum of the conductivity curves at all voxels.
  • the amplitude map represents the conductivity variation at different voxels.
  • the amplitude of the corresponding voxel is evaluated as the 50 th and 100 th percentile of the maximum change of conductivity at all time-segments for guided breathing and forced breathing, respectively.
  • the correlation map represents the voxel-wise correlation between the global conductivity-time curve and the respective conductivity-time curve.
  • additional global EIT indicators and functional maps corresponding to MVE, EV1, MVE/EV1, MEF and EF25-75% are calculated from the global conductivity curve and the voxel-wise conductivity curve.
  • the conductivity curve corresponding to the forced exhale and inhale is first extracted by excluding the first and last segments corresponding to the guided shallow breathing.
  • the starting time of the forced exhale is obtained using the back-extrapolation method as in standard spirometry data analysis 1 .
  • EIT indicators corresponding to MVE, EV1, MVE/EV1, MEF and EF25-75% are calculated as follows, (1) MVE is obtained by the difference between the maximum and minimum conductivity changes; (2) EV1is obtained by the difference between the conductivity change at the starting time of the exhalation and one second after; (3) EV1/MVE is the ratio of EV1 and MVE; (4) MEF is the maximum value of the time derivative of the conductivity curve; and (5) EF25-75%is the average flow during the expiration from 25%of MVE to 75%of MVE.
  • regions of interest are defined using a threshold-based segmentation of the amplitude-correlation product map.
  • the largest cluster with the most selected voxels localized in the left-half and right-half of the product image are considered as the left and right lung clusters, respectively.
  • a group threshold is applied onto all repetitions performed by the same subject in a single trial.
  • the group threshold value is determined by finding the mean of threshold values which selected the top 35%voxels with the largest amplitude-correlation product across repetitions of the fourth (weakest) breathing effort. This thresholding strategy is used to compare the activated voxels for different breathing effort.
  • the lung clusters are further divided into four ROIs, namely the anterior left, posterior left, anterior right and posterior right lungs.
  • the anterior-posterior division is defined by the horizontal line passing through the midpoint between the topmost and bottommost voxels in both lung clusters.
  • the left and right conductivity waveforms are obtained by averaging the temporal signals of voxels within both lung clusters.
  • the frequency spectra of the left-right waveforms are obtained by computing their fast Fourier transforms.
  • Regional EIT indicators including the number of activated voxels, total amplitude, and the coefficient of variation (CV) shown in Figure 5B-5E are computed from amplitude image.
  • the number of activated voxels is the count of voxels in the corresponding ROI.
  • the total amplitude is the sum of the voxel amplitude within different ROIs.
  • the CV is the ratio of the standard deviation over mean in the top 75%voxels within each ROI. CV are compensated for potential system-dependent SNR.
  • CV serves to monitor homogeneity of amplitudes as a significant consistent loss in homogeneity could imply decreased lung function.
  • additional regional indicators (MVE, EV1, EV1/MVE ratio, MEF and EF25-75%) are computed for each lung ROI, by averaging the corresponding functional indicator maps within each ROI.
  • Figures 9A and 9B more specifically illustrate that regional EIT-derived indicators were consistent with the four corresponding breathing paradigms which is the combination of full or mid capacity inhale and fast or slow exhale.
  • Figure 9A shows that individual functional image was used to define the regions of interest (ROIs) , including anterior left, posterior left, anterior right and posterior right.
  • ROIs regions of interest
  • Figure 9B shows that all regional indicators followed a similar trend, i.e., the MVE is higher in paradigms involving full capacity inhale, the EV1 is highest in full capacity inhale with fast exhale and is lowest in half capacity inhale with slow exhale, the EV1/MVE ratio is higher in paradigms involving fast exhale, the MEF is highest in full capacity inhale with fast exhale and is lowest in half capacity inhale with slow exhale, and the EF25-75%is highest in highest in full capacity inhale with fast exhale and is lowest in slow exhale.
  • trials are excluded by inspecting the correlation map and the global conductivity curve.
  • the accepted trials showed two positively correlated clusters in the correlation map (corresponding to two lung regions) and a global conductivity curve which followed the instructed curve.
  • a functional mapping to predict spirometry indicators from the global EIT indicators and anthropometrics is learnt from a sub-set (training set) of the collected data, then evaluated with the remaining sub-set (test set) .
  • the test-set is obtained by randomly excluding all data from two participants and another 10%of the data from the remaining participants.
  • the training-set is the remaining data from the global set after excluding the test-set.
  • the proportion of the test-set is 24%. This splitting strategy is adopted to verify whether the trained model is capable to generalize unseen data and subjects with different anthropometrics.
  • Figures 11 illustrate that spirometry indicators are predicted from EIT over a wide dynamic range for both train and test sets. These results demonstrated that the EIT system has standard spirometry capabilities.
  • the blue dots are the samples from the training set and the red dots are the samples from the testing set.
  • test-set is obtained from the global set by randomly excluding all data from two subjects and another 10%of the data from the remaining subjects.
  • the train-set is the remaining data from the global set after excluding the test-set.
  • the performance of the regression model is evaluated with the correlation coefficient ( ⁇ ) and mean absolute error percentage (MAE%) . The results show that the performance on the train-set and test-set are very similar which suggest that the model has a good generalization performance.
  • Table 1 Evaluation of the regression model used to predict the spirometry indicators.
  • Table 2 Coefficients associated with the different variables of the multiple linear regression model used to predict the spirometry indicators.
  • the amplitude maps are masked with the lung clusters.
  • the amplitude maps are normalized by the maximum voxel amplitude across all repetitions performed.
  • the average amplitude maps at shallow and deep breathing are obtained by computing the mean normalized amplitude maps at each breathing depth ( Figure 5B) .
  • each amplitude map is normalized by its maximum voxel amplitude, and the average amplitude maps are obtained by averaging across different subject groups (patient and healthy controls) ( Figure 5C) .
  • Two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni multiple comparisons is applied to compare the number of activated voxels and total amplitude between the left and right lungs across breathing depth or patient/control group ( Figure 5B-5C) .
  • the regional waveforms and frequency spectra are normalized by their maximum value across all trials, and the mean normalized breathing waveforms and frequency spectra are presented with ⁇ SEM ( Figure 5B) .
  • the mean left and right CV in the patient and healthy control groups are presented ( Figure 2C).
  • Two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni multiple comparisons is applied to compare the left and right lung CV between subject groups.
  • computing system any appropriate computing system architecture may be utilized. This will include stand-alone computers, network computers, dedicated or non-dedicated hardware devices. Where the terms “computing system” and “computing device” are used, these terms are intended to include (but not limited to) any appropriate arrangement of computer or information processing hardware capable of implementing the function described.
  • the invention has provided a computer-implemented method for lung health assessment, comprising: receiving EIT data associated with a lung of a subject; and processing the received EIT data to determine a health condition of the lung of the subject.
  • the EIT data is raw EIT data.
  • the EIT data is obtained from the subject or the subject’s lung during a guided breathing operation.
  • the subject periodically or regularly inhales and exhales, optionally with a predetermined number of breaths per minute.
  • the EIT data is obtained from the subject or the subject’s lung during a forced breathing operation.
  • the subject in the forced breathing operation, the subject first takes a predetermined number of shallow breaths, then inhales to maximum or medium lung capacity, then exhales abruptly or slowly, then inhales to maximum or medium lung capacity, then exhales to normal breathing exhalation volume, and finally takes a predetermined number of shallow breaths.
  • the EIT data is obtained from the subject or the subject’s lung during a spontaneous breathing operation.
  • the spontaneous breathing operation is an unguided operation in which the subject can breathe unguided.
  • the processing comprises: denoising the received EIT data; and reconstructing time-difference EIT images based on the denoised EIT data.
  • the denoising comprises: filtering the EIT data; and/or adjusting outlier measurements in the EIT data based on reference voltage data.
  • the reconstruction is performed using a Gauss–Newton method, such as a one-step linear Gauss-Newton solver optionally with a regularization matrix based on the Newton's one-step error re-constructor prior.
  • the processing further comprises, for each time series of the time-difference EIT images: determining a global conductivity measure or curve that represents a dominant conductivity signal in the time series due to breathing of the subject; determining an amplitude measure or map that represents a local conductivity variation at different voxels of the images, and/or determining a correlation measure or map that represents voxel-wise correlation between the global conductivity-time curve and the respective local conductivity-time curve.
  • the global conductivity measure or curve is determined based on feature selection through filtering and signal extraction.
  • the processing further comprises analyzing the global conductivity curve, the amplitude map, and/or the correlation map to determine the health condition of the lung of the subject.
  • the processing further comprises, for each time series of the time-difference EIT images: determining one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps, each of which is related to a respective indicator measure.
  • the one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps are determined based on the global conductivity curve and a voxel-wise conductivity curve.
  • the indicator measure is spirometry indicator measure
  • the one or more parametric functional indicator comprise: maximum volume engaged (MVE) corresponding to forced vital capacity (FVC) measure; exhaled volume in 1 second (EV1) corresponding to forced expiration volume in 1 second (FEV1) measure; exhaled volume in 1 second (EV1) to maximum volume engaged (MVE) ratio corresponding to forced expiration volume in 1 second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio measure; maximum expiration flow (MVE) corresponding to peak expiratory flow (PEF) measure; and/or expiratory flow at 25-75%of maximum volume engaged (EF25-75%) corresponding to forced expiratory flow at 25–75%of forced vital capacity (FEF25–75%) measure.
  • MVE maximum volume engaged
  • FVC forced vital capacity
  • the processing further comprises: processing the one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps with a model, e.g., a regression model, to determine a spirometry indicator measure of the subject.
  • This spirometry indicator measure is determined for EIT data obtained using the forced breathing operation.
  • the processing further comprises: processing the one or more parametric functional indicator measures or maps with a model, e.g., a regression model, to determine an indicator of the subject indicative of lung condition, the indicator comprises amplitude, activated voxels, and /or coefficient of variation, which are non-spirometry indicator.
  • the non-spirometry indicator is determined for EIT data obtained using the guided breathing operation and spontaneous breathing operation.
  • the invention has also provided a system and a non-transitory computer-readable medium for implementing the above method.
  • the method of the invention can be implemented using other EIT signal measurement system, which may or may not be portable, and may or may not be the same as the system specifically illustrated in the above embodiments.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé mis en œuvre par ordinateur pour l'évaluation de la santé pulmonaire. Le procédé consiste à : recevoir des données EIT associées à un poumon d'un sujet ; et traiter les données EIT reçues pour déterminer un état de santé du poumon du sujet. Un système d'évaluation de la santé pulmonaire comprend un ou plusieurs processeurs agencés pour : recevoir des données EIT associées à un poumon d'un sujet ; et traiter les données EIT reçues pour déterminer un état de santé du poumon du sujet.
PCT/CN2022/082511 2021-03-23 2022-03-23 Évaluation pulmonaire basée sur la tomographie par impédance électrique WO2022199619A1 (fr)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100228143A1 (en) * 2009-03-09 2010-09-09 Drager Medical Ag & Co. Kg Apparatus and method to determine functional lung characteristics
US20140221865A1 (en) * 2013-02-05 2014-08-07 Dräger Medical GmbH Electric impedance tomography device and method
US20160235333A1 (en) * 2013-09-27 2016-08-18 Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA Electrical impedance tomography device and electrical impedance tomography method
CN109381187A (zh) * 2017-08-02 2019-02-26 德尔格制造股份两合公司 用于基于eit-数据确定差异特征数的设备和方法
US20190125277A1 (en) * 2016-04-25 2019-05-02 Oliver C. Radke User interface of a medical diagnosis system, and computer program therefor

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100228143A1 (en) * 2009-03-09 2010-09-09 Drager Medical Ag & Co. Kg Apparatus and method to determine functional lung characteristics
US20140221865A1 (en) * 2013-02-05 2014-08-07 Dräger Medical GmbH Electric impedance tomography device and method
US20160235333A1 (en) * 2013-09-27 2016-08-18 Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA Electrical impedance tomography device and electrical impedance tomography method
US20190125277A1 (en) * 2016-04-25 2019-05-02 Oliver C. Radke User interface of a medical diagnosis system, and computer program therefor
CN109381187A (zh) * 2017-08-02 2019-02-26 德尔格制造股份两合公司 用于基于eit-数据确定差异特征数的设备和方法

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