General Electric Company
System and Method for Apnea Detection

Abstract:

An impedance-based respiration monitoring system for apnea detection includes at least three surface electrodes configured to record impedance respiration data from a patient's torso, a signal processing system, and an apnea detection module. The signal processing system is configured to generate a first respiration lead formed by a first set of surface electrodes from the at least three surface electrodes, the first respiration lead providing a first series of impedance measurements, and to generate a second respiration lead formed by a second set of surface electrodes attached to the patient's torso, the second lead providing a second series of impedance measurements. The apnea detection module is executable on a processor to calculate a first apnea metric based on the first series of impedance measurements, and calculate a second apnea metric based on the second series of impedance measurements. An apnea event is then detected based on the first apnea metric and the second apnea metric.