title: Pulse detection with a single accelerometer placed at the carotid artery: Performance in a real-life diagnostic test during acute hypotension.
abstract: Pulse detection via palpation is a basic and essential procedure in daily medical practice. We have been investigating the performance of a single accelerometer placed above the carotid artery, which is one of the recommended locations for manual palpation. A low-cost sensor attached by an adhesive measures accelerations due to carotid dilatations and whole body vibrations. A real-time demonstrator has been developed to classify 10 second- windows in "Pulse", "Motion" and "No Pulse" and to infer pulse rate. Data were obtained during a scheduled head-up tilt table test (HUTT). Our results show for a subgroup of 10 patients with acute hypotension a wide spread of "good" signal coverage ranging from as low as 37% up to 100%. Key factors compromising the performance in HUTT are motion artifacts, arrhythmias, sensor placement and sensor-skin coupling. In conclusion, pulse detection with a single accelerometer is sufficiently accurate, if good signal coverage can be achieved.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muehlsteff
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dellimore
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Aarts
authors.forename: Rene
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Derkx
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peiker
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry; D002339:Carotid Arteries; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007022:Hypotension; D018667:Tilt-Table Test