title: A telemedicine instrument for home monitoring of patients with chronic respiratory diseases.
abstract: We developed a telemedicine instrument for home monitoring of subjects with respiratory diseases. The instrument directly measures blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate, but the most relevant aspect is that it also acts as digital recorder of parameters coming from several external instruments (spirometer, capnometer, NIBP device, etc.). It also connects to all pulmonary ventilators. The instrument main board includes five slots, which are used to insert the measuring boards (saturation and ventilation boards) and the interface boards (connecting the external instruments). Depending on patient's needs, only the proper measuring/interface boards are mounted, thus allowing maximum flexibility and cost saving. The instrument has several I/O units, and especially an internal modem for direct connection to the Internet through TCP/IP protocol. The instrument was extensively tested, and preliminary trials were performed over fifteen patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ingegneria Biomedica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35127 Padova, Italy. tura@isib.cnr.it
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tura
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santini
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quareni
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications; D015924:Blood Pressure Monitors; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000097:blood; D004867:Equipment Design; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D003629:Modems; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000295:instrumentation; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013147:Spirometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010100:Oxygen