Wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) causing patient's QRS width to be plotted against the heart rate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10857371-B2
Application number	US-201816167398-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2018
Priority date	Nov 2, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

A wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) system includes a support structure that the patient may wear, and one or more sensors that may acquire patient physiological signals, such as ECG and others. A processor of the WCD system may determine diagnostics from the patient physiological signals. These diagnostics include a six-second ECG portion, heart rates as histograms, heart rates against QRS width, heart rate trends, clinical event counters, diagnostics relating to heart rate variability and about the atrial arrhythmia burden of the patient. In some embodiments, the WCD system includes a user interface with a screen that displays these diagnostics. In some embodiments, the WCD system exports these diagnostics for viewing by a different screen. When viewed, these diagnostics permit more detailed analysis of the state of the patient.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) system, comprising:
a support structure configured to be worn by a patient;
a power source;
an energy storage module configured to be coupled to the support structure, to receive an electric charge from the power source, and to store the received electric charge;
a discharge circuit coupled to the energy storage module, the discharge circuit controllable to discharge an electric charge stored in the energy storage module while the support structure is worn by the patient;
one or more sensors configured to acquire patient physiological signals;
a processor configured to determine, from the acquired patient physiological signals, heart rate values for heart rates over a time interval, and to further to classify at least some of the determined heart rate values as belonging in respective ranges of possible heart rate values, and to compute, for each one of the ranges, a respective count of how many of the determined heart rate values have been classified within that range; and
a user interface that includes a screen configured to display as a histogram: a) indications of at least some of the ranges arrayed along a horizontal time axis, together with b) the respective counts of at least some of the ranges, illustrated along a vertical axis.

2. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the patient physiological signals include electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the patient.

3. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the one or more sensors include a pulse sensor that detects blood flow using mechanical pressure, and is configured to generate a signal responsive to such detection, heart beats are discerned from the signal of the pulse sensor, and the heart rate values are determined from the discerned heart beats.

4. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the one or more sensors include a pulse sensor that detects blood flow using light, and is configured to generate a signal responsive to such detection, heart beats are discerned from the signal of the pulse sensor, and the heart rate values are determined from the discerned heart beats.

5. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the screen is configured to so display while the patient is wearing the support structure, and has been so wearing continuously since the patient physiological signals were acquired.

6. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the user interface is configured to be coupled to the support structure.

7. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the user interface is configured to be coupled to the support structure, and
the screen is configured to so display while the patient is wearing the support structure, and has been so wearing continuously since the patient physiological signals were acquired.

8. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the time interval is one day or longer than one day.

9. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the time interval is one month or longer than one month.

10. The WCD system of claim 1 , in which
the counts of the ranges are totaled and normalized to 100 before they are displayed on the vertical axis.

11. The WCD system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory; and in which
different versions of the histogram are thus displayed at different times, and
the memory is configured to store data files that encode the different versions of the histogram.

12. The WCD system of claim 11 , in which
time stamps are further stored in the memory in association with the respective data files.

13. The WCD system of claim 11 , in which
an additional data file becomes thus stored after the passage of a preset aggregation time.

14. The WCD system of claim 11 , in which
an additional data file becomes thus stored after a preset number of heart rate values have been determined.

15. The WCD system of claim 11 , further comprising:
an input device; and in which
an additional data file becomes thus stored responsive to receiving a user input from the input device.

16. A method for using a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) system, the WCD system including: a support structure, a power source, an energy storage module coupled to the support structure, a discharge circuit, one or more sensors, a processor, a memory and a user interface that includes a screen, the method comprising:
acquiring, by the one or more sensors, patient physiological signals while the patient is wearing the support structure;
determining, by the processor, from the acquired patient physiological signals, heart rate values for heart rates over a time interval;
classifying at least some of the determined heart rate values as belonging in respective ranges of possible heart rate values;
computing, for each one of the ranges, a respective count of how many of the determined heart rate values have been classified within that range;
displaying, on the screen, as a histogram: a) indications of at least some of the ranges arrayed along a horizontal time axis, together with b) the respective counts of at least some of the ranges, illustrated along a vertical time axis;
receiving, in the energy storage module an electric charge from the power source, and storing the received electric charge; and
discharging, by the discharge circuit, the electric charge stored in the energy storage module while the support structure is worn by the patient.

17. The method of claim 16 , in which
the patient physiological signals include electrocardiogram (ECG) data of the patient.

18. The method of claim 16 , in which
the one or more sensors include a pulse sensor that detects blood flow using mechanical pressure, and is configured to generate a signal responsive to such detection, heart beats are discerned from the signal of the pulse sensor, and the heart rate values are determined from the discerned heart beats.

19. The method of claim 16 , in which
the one or more sensors include a pulse sensor that detects blood flow using light, and is configured to generate a signal responsive to such detection, heart beats are discerned from the signal of the pulse sensor, and the heart rate values are determined from the discerned heart beats.

20. The method of claim 16 , in which
the screen so displays while the patient is wearing the support structure, and has been so wearing continuously since the patient physiological signals were acquired.

21. The method of claim 16 , in which
the time interval is one day or longer than one day.

22. The method of claim 16 , in which
the time interval is one month or longer than one month.

23. The method of claim 16 , in which
the counts of the ranges are totaled and normalized to 100 before they are displayed on the vertical axis.

24. The method of claim 16 , in which different versions of the histogram are thus displayed at different times, and the method further comprises:
storing, in the memory, data files that encode the different versions of the histogram.

25. The method of claim 24 , in which
time stamps are further stored in the memory in association with the respective data files.

26. The method of claim 24 , in which
an additional data file becomes thus stored after the passage of a preset aggregation time.

27. The method of claim 24 , in which
an additional data file becomes thus stored after a preset number of heart rate values have been determined.

28. The me

Assignees

• West Affum Holdings Corp

Inventors

• Gustavson Laura M
• Finch David P
• Sullivan Joseph L

Classifications

• G16Z99/00

  Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass · CPC title

• A61B5/366

  Detecting abnormal QRS complex, e.g. widening · CPC title

• A61B5/363

  Detecting tachycardia or bradycardia · CPC title

• A61B5/352

  Detecting R peaks, e.g. for synchronising diagnostic apparatus; Estimating R-R interval · CPC title

• A61B5/361

  Detecting fibrillation · CPC title