Browsing by Author "Silva, Hugo P."
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- Empirical evaluation of the potential of low-cost and open source “on-the-person” ECG for cardiopathy pre-screeningPublication . Reis, Manuel José Cabral dos Santos; Silva, Hugo P.; Barros, Francisco; Ala, Sílvia Maria Fernandes; Sanfins, Víctor; Lourenço, Hélio B.M.Electrocardiographic (ECG) data analysis can reveal crucial information about the cardiovascular physiologi- cal phenomenon, which is modulated by the Autonomic Nervous System. Hereupon, beyond cardiovascular diagnosis, ECG markers can also reflect workload levels, or even physical and mental performance, through Heart Rate Variability (HRV) analysis. Building upon previous work found within the state-of-the-art, this pilot research explores the potential of using a low-cost device for cardiopathy pre-screening, through ECG signal analysis. With the aim of performing the rhythmical analysis, we performed empirical tests from a population of 21 control subjects in a resting position, and an additional 2 subjects, one of them in dynamic condition, in the scope of an exploratory research, using ECG wave segments analysis and HRV features extraction for nu- merical analysis. Results have demonstrated that the signal quality allows reliable ECG acquisition for further rhythmical and HRV analysis, in stationary and dynamic monitoring, for the bipolar leads applied. There was also evidence to suggest a benefit from including ECG morphological analysis with this hardware and software setup for prevention and diagnosis of cardiovascular disorders, although requiring further investigation.
- Heart rhythm qualitative analysis using low-cost and open source electrocardiography: a study based on atrial fibrillation detectionPublication . Lourenço, Hélio B.M.; Sanfins, Víctor; Torgal, Fernando; Ala, Sílvia Maria Fernandes; Reis, Manuel José Cabral dos Santos; Silva, Hugo P.; Barros, FranciscoIn the current digital era, cardiovascular activity analysis is becoming ubiquitous with the increasing availability of embedded systems, and, in some cases, these systems are even endowed with the capabili- ties of detecting health risk factors identified through electrocardiographic (ECG) markers. Aligned with this trend, and inspired by the results from our pilot study, we focus this research on exploring the potential of a low- cost and open source device for heart rhythm analysis, with emphasis on Atrial Fibrillation (AF). AF is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, defined as a complex cardiac disease which is highly correlated to stroke and heart failure, and its prevalence is especially high in elderly popula- tion. Given the importance and impact of such cardiovascular disease, we performed ECG acquisitions in a hospital setting to evaluate the poten- tial of this device to identify heart rhythms. These ECG acquisitions were performed in 10 patients, accomplished simultaneously with the low-cost device and the gold standard devices used in the clinical routine of the hospital. The data collected from the low-cost device was analysed by the cardiologist specialized in rhythmology, along with the conventional ECG exam analysis, whom suggested 100% accuracy of the low-cost device in differentiating a sinus rhythm from AF. The results also present great accu- racy in the detection of atypical cardiac events through ECG analysis, as well as a good agreement for the corroboration of the numerical data from the devices used for this study, as the RR intervals and QTc intervals values suggest.