Simultaneous monitoring of heart performance and respiration activity

An electrode matrix and electronic circuit for simultaneous monitoring heart performance and respiration activity is described in the paper. The heart performance is evaluated basing on a mechanical and electrical activity. The mechanical activity is measured using bioimpedance method while the electrical one using a typical approach, i.e. one channel electrocardiogram is recorded. An electrode matrix exhibiting a relatively low susceptibility to generating so called moving artifacts has been proposed and examined. It was used for measuring both, impedance and electrical signals. Spatial distributions of sensitivity have been calculated, using Finite Element Model, for each type of measurement method utilized. Examples of recorded and processed signals are also included. A contamination of the recorded signals by moving artifacts has been evaluated and compared to that obtained when using other configurations of the electrode matrices.