Patent ID: 11872021
Assignee: THE FEINSTEIN INSTITUTES FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. An improved method for diagnosis and monitoring of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in an infant, the improvement comprising
a) obtaining or receiving electrocardiogram (ECG) signals from the infant;
b) obtaining or receiving photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals from a site on the upper body (UB) of the infant, and optionally from a foot (F) of the infant;
c) obtaining or receiving for each PPG pulse a PPG pulse amplitude (AM), the AM defined as an amplitude between the end-diastolic maximum and the consecutive systolic decrease minimum for the UB PPG pulses;
d) obtaining or receiving the mean of two or more of the following parameters for a plurality of the PPG pulses:
(i) a relative pulse amplitude (rAM) by dividing the AM by the systolic decrease minimum to obtain a rAM for the upper body (rAM-UB) PPG pulses;
(ii) a pulse transit time (PTT-UB) between an R wave of the ECG and the onset of systolic decrease for the corresponding UB PPG pulse;
(iii) a ratio PTT-UB/rAM-UB between the pulse transit time (PTT-UB) and the relative pulse amplitude for the UB (rAM-UB) PPG pulse;
(iv) a pulse transit time (PTT-F) between an R wave of the ECG and the onset of systolic decrease for the corresponding F PPG pulse; and
(v) a time delay (TD) between the onset of systolic decrease for the UB PPG pulse and the onset of systolic decrease for the corresponding F PPG pulse;

e) detecting patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in the infant when two or more of:
1) the relative pulse amplitude for the UB (rAM-UB) is elevated above normal;
2) the pulse transit time (PTT-UB) is decreased below normal, and/or the pulse transit time (PTT-F) is decreased below normal, and/or the time delay (TD) of PPG pulses between the UB and F is elevated above normal; or
3) the ratio PTT-UB/rAM-UB is decreased below normal;
wherein the term “normal” refers to values of parameters obtained from infants with a closed ductus arteriosus; and

f) outputting results from e) to a display device to enable a clinician to monitor the ductus arterious for spontaneous closure, response to treatment, or re-opening of a previously closed ductus.