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Biopotentials and
Electrophysiology
Measurement
Teemu Rm
teemu.ramo@nokia.
com
butler.cc.tut.fi/~malmivuo/bem/bemboo
Agenda
1st half
Introduction to biopotentials
Measurement methods
Traditional: ECG, EEG, EMG, EOG
Novell: VCG
2nd half
Measurement considerations
Electronics
Electrodes
Practices
Q&A
What are biopotentials
Biopotential: An electric potential that is measured between points in living cells,
tissues, and organisms, and which accompanies all biochemical processes.
Also describes the transfer of information between and within cells
This book focuses strictly on the measurement of potentials
Mechanism behind biopotentials 1/2
Concentration of potassium (K+) ions is 30-
50 times higher inside as compared to
outside
Sodium ion (Na+) concentration is 10 times
higher outside the membrane than inside Vm 70... 100 mV
Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation:
RT PK ci , K PNa ci , Na PCl ci ,Cl
Vm ln Vm 70... 100 mV
zk F PK ci , K PNa ci , Na PCl ci ,Cl
Mechanism behind biopotentials 2/2
When membrane stimulation exceeds a
threshold level of about 20 mV, so called
action potential occurs:
1. Sodium and potassium ionic permeabilities of
the membrane change
2. Sodium ion permeability increases very rapidly
at first, allowing sodium ions to flow from
outside to inside, making the inside more
positive
3. The more slowly increasing potassium ion
permeability allows potassium ions to flow from
inside to outside, thus returning membrane
potential to its resting value
4. While at rest, the Na-K pump restores the ion
concentrations to their original values
The number of ions flowing through an open
channel >106/sec
Body is an inhomogeneous volume conductor
and these ion fluxes create measurable
potentials on body surface
Electrocardiography (ECG)
Measures galvanically the electric activity of the heart
Well known and traditional, first measurements by
Augustus Waller using capillary electrometer (year 1887)
Very widely used method in clinical environment
Very high diagnostic value
1. Atrial
depolarization
ECG basics
Amplitude: 1-5 mV
Bandwidth: 0.05-100 Hz
Typical applications:
Diagnosis of ischemia
Arrhythmia
Conduction defects
12-Lead ECG measurement
Most widely used ECG measurement setup in clinical environment
Signal is measured non-invasively with 9 electrodes
Lots of measurement data and international reference databases
Well-known measurement and diagnosis practices
This particular method was adopted due to historical reasons, now it is already
rather obsolete
Einthoven leads: I, II & III Goldberger augmented leads: VR, VL & VF Precordial leads: V1-V6
Why is 12-lead system obsolete?
Over 90% of the hearts electric activity can be explained
with a dipole source model
Only 3 orthogonal components need to be measured,
which makes 9 of the leads redundant
The remaining percentage, i.e. nondipolar components,
may have some clinical value
This makes 8 truly independent and 4 redundant leads
12-lead system does, to some extend, enhance pattern
recognition and gives the clinician a few more projections
to choose from
but.
If there was no legacy problem with current
systems, 12-lead system wouldve been
discarded ages ago
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Measures the brains electric
activity from the scalp
Measured signal results from
the activity of billions of neurons
Amplitude: 0.001-0.01 mV
Bandwidth: 0.5-40 Hz
Errors:
Thermal RF noise
50/60 Hz power lines
Blink artifacts and similar
Typical applications:
Sleep studies
Seizure detection
Cortical mapping
EEG measurement setup
10-20 Lead system is most
widely clinically accepted
Certain physiological
features
are used as reference points
Allow localization of
diagnostic features in the
vicinity of the electrode
Often a readily available wire
or rubber mesh is used
Brain research utilizes even
256 or 512 channel EEG hats
Electromyography (EMG)
Measures the electric activity of active muscle fibers
Electrodes are always connected very close to the muscle
group being measured
Rectified and integrated EMG signal gives rough indication
of the muscle activity
Needle electrodes can be used to measure individual muscle fibers
Amplitude: 1-10 mV
Bandwidth: 20-2000 Hz
Amplitude: 0.01-0.1 mV
Bandwidth: DC-10 Hz
R2 R4
G1 1 2 G2
R1 R3
iD R0
VCM iD R0 VCM
R2
1 2
R1
Filtering
Filtering should be included in the front end of the InstrAmp
Transmitters, motors etc. cause also RF interference
Determines
notch
frequency
Twin T
Notch
notch filter tuning
Artifact reduction
Electrode-skin interface is a major source of artifact
Changes in the junction potential causes slow changes in the baseline
Movement artifacts cause more sudden changes and artifacts
Drifting in the baseline can be detected by discharging the high-pass
capacitor in the amplifier to restore the baseline
Electrical isolation
Electrical isolation limits the possibility of passage of any leakage
current from the instrument in use to the patient
Such passage would be harmful if not fatal!
1. Transformer
Transformers are inherently high
frequency AC devices
Modulation and demodulation needed
2. Optical isolation
Optical signal is modulated in
proportion to the electric signal and
transmitted to the detector
Typically pulse code modulated to
circumvent the inherent nonlinearity of
the LED-phototransistor combination
Defibrillation Protection
Measuring instruments can encounter very high voltages
E.g. 15005000V shocks from defibrillator
Front-end must be designed to withstand these high voltages
Needle electrodes
Obviously invasive electrodes
Used when measurements have to be taken from the organ itself
Small signals such as motor unit potentials can be measured
Needle is often a steel wire with hooked tip
Thats it,
Now for Q&A