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
Vm 70... 100 mV
Nernst equation:
ci ,k
RT
Vk
ln
z k F co ,k
Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation:
Vm 70... 100 mV
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
2. Ventricular
depolarization
1. Atrial
depolarization
3. Ventricular repolarization
ECG basics
Amplitude:
Bandwidth:
1-5 mV
0.05-100 Hz
Typical applications:
Diagnosis of ischemia
Arrhythmia
Conduction defects
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
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:
Bandwidth:
1-10 mV
20-2000 Hz
Electrooculography (EOG)
Electric potentials are created as a result of the movement of the
eyeballs
Potential varies in proportion to the amplitude of the movement
In many ways a challenging measurement with some clinical value
Amplitude:
Bandwidth:
0.01-0.1 mV
DC-10 Hz
Short break,
Kahvia ja pullaa!
G1 1 2
R2
R1
G2
R4
R3
Application-specific requirements
ECG amplifier
Lower corner frequency 0.05 Hz, upper 100Hz
Safety and protection: leakage current below safety standard limit of 10 uA
Electrical isolation from the power line and the earth ground
Protection against high defibrillation voltages
EEG amplifier
Gain must deal with microvolt or lower levels of signals
Components must have low thermal and electronic noise @ the front end
Otherwise similar to ECG
EMG amplifier
Slightly enhanced amplifier BW suffices
Post-processing circuits are almost always needed (e.g. rectifier + integrator)
EOG amplifier
High gain with very good low frequency (or even DC) response
DC-drifting electrodes should be selected with great care
Often active DC or drift cancellation or correction circuit may be necessary
VCM iD R0
VCM
iD R0
R2
1 2
R1
Filtering
Filtering should be included in the front end of the InstrAmp
Transmitters, motors etc. cause also RF interference
Small inductors
or ferrite filter
beads
High-pass
RF
filtering
with
in the
lead
wires
to reject
DC
drifting
smallHF
capacitors
block
frequency
EM interference
Low-pass filtering
at several stages
is recommended to
attenuate residual
RF interference
50 or 60 Hz notch filter
Sometimes it may be desirable to remove the power line interference
Overlaps with the measurement bandwidth
May distort the measurement result and have an affect on the diagnosis!
Twin T
notch filter
Notch
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
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
1. Resistors in the input
leads limit the current
3. Protection against
much higher voltages
is achieved with
low-pressure gas
discharge tubes
(e.g. neon lamps)
Discharge @ ~100V
Electrodes Basics
High-quality biopotential measurements require
Good amplifier design
Use of good electrodes and their proper placement on the patient
Good laboratory and clinical practices
Electrodes - Basics
Skin preparation by abrasion or cleansing
Placement close to the source being measured
Placement above bony structures where there is less muscle mass
Distinguishing features of different electrodes:
How secure? The structure and the use of strong but less irritant adhesives
How conductive? Use of noble metals vs. cheaper materials
How prone to artifact? Use of low-junction-potential materials such as Ag-AgCl
If electrolytic gel is used, how is it applied? High conductivity gels can help reduce
the junction potentials and resistance but tend to be more allergenic or irritating
Baseline drift due to the
changes in junction
potential or motion artifacts
Choice of electrodes
Electromagnetic
interference
Shielding
Muscle signal
interference
Placement
Gold Electrodes
Very high conductivity suitable for low-noise meas.
Inertness suitable for reusable electrodes
Body forms cavity which is filled with electrolytic gel
Compared to Ag-AgCL: greater expense, higher
junction potentials and motion artifacts
Often used in EEG, sometimes in EMG
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