Leg Edema Quantification for Heart Failure Patients via 3D Imaging

Sensors

Dieter Hayn²  Friedrich Fruhwald¹  Arthur Riedel¹  Markus Falgenhauer² 

[1] Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 15, Graz 8036, Austria; E-Mails:;Safety and Security Department, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Reininghausstr. 13, Graz 8020, Austria; E-Mails:

关键词: edema;    3D imaging;    eHealth;    monitoring;    heart failure;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s130810584

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Heart failure is a common cardiac disease in elderly patients. After discharge, approximately 50% of all patients are readmitted to a hospital within six months. Recent studies show that home monitoring of heart failure patients can reduce the number of readmissions. Still, a large number of false positive alarms as well as underdiagnoses in other cases require more accurate alarm generation algorithms. New low-cost sensors for leg edema detection could be the missing link to help home monitoring to its breakthrough. We evaluated a 3D camera-based measurement setup in order to geometrically detect and quantify leg edemas. 3D images of legs were taken and geometric parameters were extracted semi-automatically from the images. Intra-subject variability for five healthy subjects was evaluated. Thereafter, correlation of 3D parameters with body weight and leg circumference was assessed during a clinical study at the Medical University of Graz. Strong correlation was found in between both reference values and instep height, while correlation in between curvature of the lower leg and references was very low. We conclude that 3D imaging might be a useful and cost-effective extension of home monitoring for heart failure patients, though further (prospective) studies are needed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.