Biomedical Engineer develops software that analyzes the influence of the nervous system on the rate of heart beats. Applied to clinical, innovation promises to make diagnoses faster, simple and accurate.
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At a time when interdisciplinary studies is of increasing importance, the engineering joins the medicine to develop new tools to help understand the human body. One of the fruits of this union of forces is ECGLab, software that assists cardiologists to interpret signals from the electrocardiogram and can analyze the influence of the nervous system on the functioning of the heart.
The program, developed during the Masters by an engineering professor at the University of Brasília (UnB) João Luiz Carvalho, works
through a computer connected to an electrocardiograph (EKG equipment used in).
The ECGLab has six modules, additional analysis and graphical interfaces that promise to make faster and more accurate medical diagnosis. The project was developed under the guidance of teachers Adson Ferreira da Rocha, electrical engineering, and Luiz Fernando Junqueira Jr., of medicine.
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This module, the program makes the statistical analysis of the signal of heart rate variability. The graph shows the largest variation of the interval between consecutive beats over time, while the lower one allows statistical evaluation of the number of intervals (image: reproduction).
Intervals between beats help to measure the influence of the autonomic nervous system in heart rate variability
Working on the project since 2002, the team developed a tool capable of using the intervals between consecutive heartbeats to measure the influence of the autonomic nervous system in the variability of heart rate.
While the sympathetic branch accelerates the pace of the heart, reducing the interval between beats, the parasympathetic influence is reversed, slowing down and making the longer intervals.
"The ECGLab allows cardiologists to evaluate how the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems change when the patient is subjected to different external stimuli," explains Chapman. Depending on the state of the individual - lying, standing or running, for example - the autonomic nervous system reacts to adapt the heart rate to the new situation.
Analysis of heart rate variability may help physicians in the diagnosis of nervous diseases and disabilities in control of autonomic nervous system on various functions of the body. For now, ECGLab is not yet used in clinical trials, but 54 research groups around the world (being 14 in Brazil) had the use studies.
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The Poincare plot to assess the correlation between consecutive intervals, the variability in the short and long term statistical series and ranges short, medium and long (Image: reproduction).
Cooperation is the key
The ECGLab is more a creation of the biomedical engineering area, which embraces knowledge of exact sciences and health. Software
was designed by professors from the Faculty of Medicine and developed by the Department of Electrical Engineering. In 2001, João Luiz Carvalho ECGCapt developed the software for acquisition and capture the signals of heart rate for computers. The following year he initiated the development of the project ECGLab with five analysis modules.
"Many medical advances were achieved thanks to joint work between engineers and health professionals"
Incorporating the sixth module to the project was done in partnership with the electrical engineering student Fernanda Leite, after the suggestion of one of the groups using the ECGLab research.
"The most important feature of biomedical engineering is the interaction between engineers and health professionals", says Carvalho.
"Many medical advances were achieved thanks to this joint work. I hope to continue the partnership to upgrade and modernize constantly ECGLab.
Source: ENE - UNB
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