Biomedical Instrumentation: A. Intro & ECG

Biomedical
Instrumentation
A. Intro & ECG
B18/BME2
Dr Gari Clifford
(Based on slides from

Prof. Lionel Tarassenko)
Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Who am I?
 UL in Biomed Eng
 Dir CDT in Healthcare Innovation @ IBME
 Signal Processing & Machine Learning for
Clinical Diagnostics
 mHealth for Developing Countries
 Low Cost Electronics
 EWH / OxCAHT

Vital signs monitoring
Clinical need
 Every day, people die unnecessarily in hospitals

 20,000 unscheduled admissions to Intensive Care p.a.
 23,000 avoidable in-hospital cardiac arrests per annum
 Between 5% and 24% of patients with an unexpected
cardiac arrest survive to discharge
 Vital sign abnormalities observed up to 8 hours
beforehand in >50% of cases

Identifying at-risk patients
 Acutely ill patients in hospital (e.g. in the Emergency Dept)

have their vital signs (heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen
levels, temperature, blood pressure) continuously monitored
but…
 Patient monitors generate very high numbers of false alerts

(e.g. 86-95% of alarms - MIT studies in ‘97 & ‘06)
 Nursing staff mostly ignore alarms from monitors (“alarm

noise”), apart from the apnoea alarm, and tend to focus
instead on checking the vital signs at the time of the 4-hourly
observations
Continuous bedside monitoring in
Emergency Department

Course Overview
1. The Electrocardiogram (ECG)
2. The Electroencephalogram (EEG)
3. Respiration measurement using Electrical Impedance

Plethysmography/Pneumography
4. Oxygen Saturation using Pulse Oximetry
5. Non-invasive Blood Pressure

Course text books
 Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Volume I,

2nd Edition, by Joseph D. Bronzino (Editor),
December 1999, ISBN: 0-849-30461-X
 Medical Instrumentation: Application and

Design, 3rd Edition, by John G. Webster
(Editor), December 1997, ISBN: 0-471-15368-0

Relevant lecture notes
 OP-AMP CIRCUITS – Year 1, pages 1 to 42
 FILTER CIRCUITS – Year 1, pages 1 to 15
 INSTRUMENTATION – Year 2, pages 1 to 4, 17-18, 22

to 28 and 38 to 52.
 Please e-mail val.mitchell@eng.ox.ac.uk if you would

like copies of the above.
 Course website:
http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~gari/teaching/b18/

Quick Vote
 Do you want all these lectures printed out
each day?
(You can use

laptops etc to
take notes,
just don’t
check your
email.)

ToDo (for you)
 Sign up on weblearn for revision sessions
(15 max per session)
 B18 (Undergrad)
 Question sheet 1: three sessions, 9 a.m. - noon on Friday of
Week 7, in LR4
 Question sheet 2: three sessions 9 a.m. - noon on Friday of
Week 8, in LR4
 MSc:
 Question sheet 1: a single session for all students, 3 - 5 p.m.
on Friday of Week 7, in LR3
 Question sheet 2: a single session for all students, 3 - 5 p.m.
on Friday of Week 8, in LR3
Hand in sheets before hand!

Biomedical
Instrumentation
1. The Electrocardiogram
(ECG)

The Electrocardiogram
 If two surface electrodes are attached to
the upper body (thorax), the following
electrical signal will be observed:
 This is the electrocardiogram or ECG

The origin of the ECG
 Atrial and ventricular contractions are the result
of carefully timed depolarisations of the cardiac
muscle cells
• The timing of the heart cycle depends on:

 Stimulus from the pacemaker cells
 Propagation between muscle cells
 Non-excitable cells
 Specialised conducting cells (Atrio-Ventricular Node)

Important specific structures
 Sino-atrial node = pacemaker (usually)
 Atria
 After electrical excitation: contraction
 Atrioventricular node (a tactical pause)
 Ventricular conducting fibers (freeways)
 Ventricular myocardium (surface roads)
 After electrical excitation: contraction

Excitation of the Heart

Excitation of the Heart

Cardiac Electrical Activity
 Putting it al together:

Approximate model of ECG
 To a first approximation, the
heart can be considered to
be an electrical generator.
 This generator drives (ionic)
currents into the upper body
(the thorax) which can be
considered to be a passive,
resistive medium
 Different potentials will be
measured at different points
on the surface of the body

Recording the ECG
P1
RT1
P1
RA P2 LA RP
RT2
P2
RL LL
Points P1 and P2 are arbitrary observation points on the torso;

RP is the resistance between them, and RT1 , RT2 are lumped
thoracic medium resistances.
.
Typical ECG signal

Components of the ECG waveform
• P-wave: a small low-voltage deflection caused by the
depolarisation of the atria prior to atrial contraction.
• QRS complex: the largest-amplitude portion of the ECG,
caused by currents generated when the ventricles depolarise
prior to their contraction.

Components of the ECG waveform
• T-wave: ventricular repolarisation.
• P-Q interval: the time interval between the beginning of the P
wave and the beginning of the QRS complex.
• Q-T interval: characterises ventricular repolarisation.

Recording the ECG
 To record the ECG we need a transducer capable of
converting the ionic potentials generated within the
body into electronic potentials
 Such a transducer is a pair of electrodes and are:
 Polarisable (which behave as capacitors)
 Non-polarisable (which behave as resistors)
 Both; common electrodes lie between these two extremes
 The electrode most commonly used for ECG signals,

the silver-silver chloride electrode, is closer to a non-
polarisable electrode.

Silver-silver chloride electrode
 Electrodes are usually metal discs and a salt of that
metal.
 A paste is applied between the electrode and the skin.
 This results in a local solution of the metal in the paste at
the electrode-skin interface. Some of the silver dissolves
into solution producing Ag+ ions:
 Ag → Ag+ + e-
 Ionic equilibrium takes place when the electrical field is
balanced by the concentration gradient and a layer of
Ag+ ions is adjacent to a layer of Cl- ions.

Electrode-electrolyte interface
Electrode
e-
e-
e-
Ag Ag Ag Ag
Current I
Ag+
Cl-
Ag+
Ag+ Cl-
Cl-
Ag+
Cl-
Gel
Illustrative diagram of electrode-electrolyte interface in case of Ag-AgCl electrode

 Electrodes are usually metal discs and a salt of that metal.
 A paste is applied between the electrode and the skin.
 This results in a local solution of the metal in the paste at
the electrode-skin interface.
 Ionic equilibrium takes place when the electrical field is
balanced by the concentration gradient and a layer of Ag+
ions is adjacent to a layer of Cl- ions.
 This gives a potential drop E called the half-cell potential
(normally 0.8 V for an Ag-AgCl electrode)

 The double layer of charges also has

a capacitive effect.
Electrode
 Since the Ag-AgCl electrode is
Ag+ Ag+ Ag+ Ag+ Ag+ Ag+ Ag+
Cl- Cl- Cl- Cl- Cl- Cl- Cl- primarily non-polarisable, there is a
Gel large resistive effect.
 This gives a simple model for the
Skin
electrode.
 However, the impedance is not infinite
at d.c. and so a resistor must be
added in parallel with the capacitor.
Ag → Ag+ + e-

 The double layer of charges also has

a capacitive effect.
 Since the Ag-AgCl electrode is
primarily non-polarisable, there is a
large resistive effect.
 This gives a simple model for the
electrode.
 However, the impedance is not infinite
at d.c. and so a resistor must be
added in parallel with the capacitor.

The Overall Model
 The resistors and capacitors may not be exactly equal.

 Half cell potentials E and E' should be very similar.
 Hence V should represent the actual difference of ionic
potential between the two points on the body where the
electrodes have been placed.
Electrode placement
VI = (potential at LA) – (potential at RA)
VII = (potential at LL) – (potential at RA)
VIII = (potential at LL) – (potential at LA)
The right leg is usually grounded (but see later)

ECG Amplification
 Problems in ECG amplification
 The signal is small (typical ECG peak

value ~1mV) so amplification is needed
 Interference is usually larger amplitude

than the signal itself

1st Problem: Electric Field Interference
 Capacitance between power lines and Electrical power system
system couples current into the patient
50 pF
 This capacitance varies but it is of the order
of 50pF (this corresponds to 64MΩ at 50Hz
... recall Xc=1/C )
 If the right leg is connected to the common

ground of the amplifier with a contact RA LA
impedance of 5kΩ, the mains potential will

appear as a ~20mV noise input.
RL LL
the 50 Hz interference is common to
5kΩ
both measuring electrodes !
(common mode signals)
The solution
 The ECG is measured as a differential signal.
 The 50Hz noise, however, is common to all the
electrodes.
 It appears equally at the Right Arm and Left Arm
terminals.
 Rejection therefore depends on the use of a
differential amplifier in the input stage of the
ECG machine.
 The amount of rejection depends on the ability
of the amplifier to reject common-mode voltages.

Common Mode Rejection Ratio
(CMRR)
vin= vcm+ vd Ad & Acm vout= Acmvcm + Advd
CMRR = Ad / Acm
(ratio of differential gain to
common mode gain)
Three Op-Amp Differential Amplifier

Ad1 = v1'  v1 v1  v 2 v 2  v 2'

i  
R2 R1 R2
R2 R
v1'  (1  )v1  2 v 2
R1 R1
. R2 R2
v  (1  )v 2 
'
2 v1
R1 R1
2 R2
v  v  (v 2  v1 )(1 
'
2
'
1 )
R1
2 R2
Ad1 = 1 
R1
Ad1 = v1'  v1 v1  v 2 v 2  v 2'

i  
R2 R1 R2
R2 R
v1'  (1  )v1  2 v 2
R1 R1
R2 R2
v  (1  )v 2 
'
2 v1
R1 R1
2 R2
v  v  (v 2  v1 )(1 
'
2
'
1 )
R1
When v1 = v2 = vcm, Acm = 1

Ad1 = v1'  v1 v1  v 2 v 2  v 2'

i  
R2 R1 R2
R2 R
v1'  (1  )v1  2 v 2
R1 R1
R2 R2
v  (1  )v 2 
'
2 v1
R1 R1
2 R2
v  v  (v 2  v1 )(1 
'
2
'
1 )
R1
Ad 1 . Ad 2
CMRR is product of CMRR CMRR =
Acm1 . Acm 2
for each input amplifier
2nd problem: Magnetic Induction
 Current in magnetic fields

induces voltage in the loop
formed by patient leads
RA LA
 The solution is to minimise

the coil area (e.g. by twisting
RL LL
the lead wires together)

3rd problem:
Source impedance unbalance
 If the contact impedances are not balanced (i.e. the
same), then the body’s common-mode voltage will be
higher at one input to the amplifier than the other.

3rd problem:
Source impedance unbalance
 If the contact impedances are not balanced (i.e. the

same), then the body’s common-mode voltage will be
higher at one input to the amplifier than the other.
 Hence, a fraction of the common-mode voltage will be

seen as a differential signal.
 see problem on example sheet

Summary
 Output from the differential amplifier consists of
three components:
 The desired output (ECG)
 Unwanted common-mode signal because the
common-mode rejection is not infinite
 Unwanted component of common-mode signal
(appearing as pseudo-differential signal at the input)
due to contact impedance imbalance

Driven right-leg circuitry
 The common-mode voltage can be
controlled using a Driven right-leg circuit.
 A small current (<1µA) is injected into the

patient to equal the displacement currents
flowing in the body.

LA
+
A1
-
R2 Ra
RA LA -
R1 A4
+
Ra
R2
RA -
A2
RL LL +
RL R0


 The common-mode voltage can be controlled using
a Driven right-leg circuit.
 A small current (<1µA) is injected into the patient to

equal the displacement currents flowing in the body.
 The body acts as a summing junction in a feedback

loop and the common-mode voltage is driven to a
low value.
 This also improves patient safety (R0 is v. large –

see notes).
Other patient protection
 (Defib Protection)
 Isolation
 Filtering
 Amplification
 Anti-alias filtering
 Digitization

Static defibrillation protection
 For use in medical situations, the ECG
must be able to recover from a 5kV, 100A
impulse (defibrillation)
 Use large inductors and diodes

Patient Isolation
 Opto-isolators
 DC-DC
Converters

RF Shielding & Emissions
 Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)
 the ability of a device to function (a) properly in its intended electromagnetic environment,
and (b) without introducing excessive EM energy that may interfere with other devices
 Electromagnetic disturbance (EMD)

 any EM phenomenon that may degrade the performance of equipment, such as medical
devices or any electronic equipment. Examples include power line voltage dips and
interruptions, electrical fast transients (EFTs), electromagnetic fields (radiated emissions),
electrostatic discharges, and conducted emissions
 Electromagnetic interference (EMI)

 degradation of the performance of a piece of equipment, transmission channel, or system
(such as medical devices) caused by an electromagnetic disturbance
 Electrostatic discharge (ESD)

 the rapid transfer of electrostatic charge between bodies of different electrostatic potential,
either in proximity in air (air discharge) or through direct contact (contact discharge)
 Emissions
 electromagnetic energy emanating from a device generally falling into two categories:
conducted and radiated. Both categories of emission may occur simultaneously, depending
on the configuration of the device
Testing

Electrical safety
(from Lecture B)
Physiological effects of electricity:

 Electrolysis
 Neural stimulation
 Tissue heating

Electrolysis
 Electrolysis takes place when direct current

passes through tissue.
 Ulcers can be developed, for example if a
d.c. current of 0.1 mA is applied to the skin
for a few minutes.
 IEC601 limits the direct current (< 0.1 Hz)
that is allowed to flow between a pair of
electrodes to 10 μA.
Neural stimulation
 An action potential occurs if the normal

potential difference across a nerve
membrane is reversed for a certain
period of time.
 This results in a sensation of pain (if

sensory nerve has been stimulated) or
muscle contraction (if motor nerve has
been simulated).
Hazards of neural stimulation
• The effects of neural stimulation depend on the amplitude
and frequency of the current, as well as the location of the
current injection.
 If the current is injected through the skin, 75 mA – 400 mA
at 50 Hz can cause ventricular fibrillation.
Beware: under normal (dry) conditions, the impedance of the skin
at 50 Hz is usually between 10 kΩ and 100 kΩ; if the skin is wet,
the impedance can be 1 kΩ or less.
 If the current is directly applied to the heart wall (e.g. failure

of circuitry in a cardiac catheter), 100μA can cause
ventricular fibrillation.
Tissue heating
 The major effect of high-frequency
(> 10 kHz) electrical currents is heating.
 The local effect depends on the current

amplitude and frequency as well as the
length of exposure.
 Think about your mobile phone usage…

Electricity can also be good for you…
 Electrical shock is also applied to patients in

clinical practice for therapeutic purposes.
 These applications make use of the neural

stimulation effect:
 Pacemakers (to stimulate the heart)
 Defibrillators (to stop ventricular fibrillation)
 Implantable Stimulators for Neuromuscular Control
(to help paralysed patients regain some neuromuscular
control).

Electricity can also be good for you…

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Biomedical

(Based on slides from

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 Every day, people die unnecessarily in hospitals

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 Acutely ill patients in hospital (e.g. in the Emergency Dept)

 Patient monitors generate very high numbers of false alerts

 Nursing staff mostly ignore alarms from monitors (“alarm

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

1. The Electrocardiogram (ECG)

2. The Electroencephalogram (EEG)

3. Respiration measurement using Electrical Impedance

4. Oxygen Saturation using Pulse Oximetry

5. Non-invasive Blood Pressure

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Volume I,

 Medical Instrumentation: Application and

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 FILTER CIRCUITS – Year 1, pages 1 to 15

 INSTRUMENTATION – Year 2, pages 1 to 4, 17-18, 22

 Please e-mail val.mitchell@eng.ox.ac.uk if you would

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

(You can use

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Hand in sheets before hand!

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 This is the electrocardiogram or ECG

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

• The timing of the heart cycle depends on:

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Points P1 and P2 are arbitrary observation points on the torso;

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 The electrode most commonly used for ECG signals,

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Illustrative diagram of electrode-electrolyte interface in case of Ag-AgCl electrode

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 The double layer of charges also has

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 The double layer of charges also has

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 The resistors and capacitors may not be exactly equal.

VI = (potential at LA) – (potential at RA)

VII = (potential at LL) – (potential at RA)

VIII = (potential at LL) – (potential at LA)

The right leg is usually grounded (but see later)

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 Problems in ECG amplification

 The signal is small (typical ECG peak

 Interference is usually larger amplitude

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2

 If the right leg is connected to the common

impedance of 5kΩ, the mains potential will

Biomedical Instrumentation B18/BME2