ECG monitor with heart rate variability and temperature for use in anesthesiology: Hardware and software architecture

Abstract

This article describes electronic equipment being developed now to provide the anesthesiologist with additional information on the balance between sympathetic and vagal systems of the surgical patient, based on the electrocardiogram acquisition, temperatures and heart rate variability analysis. It is of extreme importance, during surgeries under general anesthesia, that the anesthesiologist has quantitative information aid him to evaluate the patient's anesthetic plan, allowing preventive and corrective interventions. The equipment is composed by a processing central developed around an ADSPBF532 Blackfin processor and by a front-end based on MC56F8013 processor. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.