ECG monitor with heart rate variability and temperature for use in anesthesiology: Front-end based on DSP

Abstract

The correct evaluation of the anesthetic state is an essential issue to avoid morbi-mortality in a surgical patient. Recent studies proved that the anesthesia analgesic aspect may be evaluated through the analysis of the heart rhythm variability. This work describes hardware and software design of an ECG, HRV and temperature monitor frontend, based on low cost DSP. It is able to show the patient's ECG signal, to compute and show the tachogram, and to show two different body temperatures. With cost similar to that of a conventional ECG monitor, this equipment is able to provide more information to the anesthesiologist. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.