title: Noninvasive pulmonary artery pressure monitoring by EIT: a model-based feasibility study.
abstract: Current monitoring modalities for patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) are limited to invasive solutions. A novel approach for the noninvasive and unsupervised monitoring of pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) in patients with PH was proposed and investigated. The approach was based on the use of electrical impedance tomography (EIT), a noninvasive and safe monitoring technique, and was tested through simulations on a realistic 4D bio-impedance model of the human thorax. Changes in PAP were induced in the model by simulating multiple types of hypertensive conditions. A timing parameter physiologically linked to the PAP via the so-called pulse wave velocity principle was automatically estimated from the EIT data. It was found that changes in PAP could indeed be reliably monitored by EIT, irrespective of the pathophysiological condition that caused them. If confirmed clinically, these findings could open the way for a new generation of noninvasive PAP monitoring solutions for the follow-up of patients with PH.
authors.affiliation: Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM), Neuchâtel, Switzerland. map@csem.ch.|Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. map@csem.ch.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4595-9480
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Proença
authors.affiliation: Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM), Neuchâtel, Switzerland.|Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM), Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Solà
authors.affiliation: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.|University Hospital Center (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Thiran
authors.affiliation: Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM), Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemay
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis / Q000379:methods; D013909:Thorax / Q000502:physiology; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods
keywords: 4D bio-impedance model; Electrical impedance tomography (EIT); Noninvasive pulmonary artery pressure (PAP); Pulmonary hypertension; Pulse wave velocity (PWV)