Title :
A flexible pressure monitoring system for pressure ulcer prevention
Author :
Yip, Marcus ; He, David Da ; Winokur, Eric ; Balderrama, Amanda Gaudreau ; Sheridan, Robert ; Ma, Hongshen
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
Pressure ulcers are painful sores that arise from prolonged exposure to high pressure points, which restricts blood flow and leads to tissue necrosis. This is a common occurrence among patients with impaired mobility, diabetics and the elderly. In this work, a flexible pressure monitoring system for pressure ulcer prevention has been developed. The prototype consists of 99 capacitive pressure sensors on a 17-cm times 22-cm sheet which is flexible in two dimensions. Due to its low cost, the sensor sheet can be disconnected from the reusable electronics and be disposed of after use, suitable for a clinical setting. Each sensor has a resolution of better than 2-mmHg and a range of 50-mmHg and offset is calibrated in software. Realtime pressure data is displayed on a computer. A maximum sampling rate of 12-Hz allows for continuous monitoring of pressure points.
Keywords :
biomedical equipment; capacitive sensors; diseases; flexible electronics; patient monitoring; pressure sensors; capacitive pressure sensors; flexible pressure monitoring system; frequency 12 Hz; pressure ulcer; reusable electronics; size 17 cm; size 22 cm; Biomedical Engineering; Equipment Design; Humans; Monitoring, Physiologic; Pressure; Pressure Ulcer; Software; Transducers, Pressure;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2009. EMBC 2009. Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
Minneapolis, MN
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-3296-7
Electronic_ISBN :
1557-170X
DOI :
10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5333964
