Estimation of Tissue Thickness Changes Due to Electrical Muscle Stimulation Using Wearable Ultrasonic Sensor in Pulse Echo Mode

Yeung, E; AlMohimeed, Ibrahim; Ono, Yuu

doi:10.1109/sensors43011.2019.8956742

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In addition, the WUS offers the measurement of both the voluntary and electrically evoked contractions. In previous works, the developed WUS feasibility was demonstrated in monitoring voluntary skeletal muscle contraction [ 100 , 101 , 104 , 124 , 125 ], measurement of arterial diameter [ 108 ], and monitoring of mechanical properties of plantar soft tissue [ 105 ]. The developed WUS is an inexpensive, flexible, and thin ultrasonic sensor which would provide the ability of the continuous monitoring of the skeletal muscle contractile properties.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrasound Measurement of Skeletal Muscle Contractile Parameters Using Flexible and Wearable Single-Element Ultrasonic Sensor

AlMohimeed

Ono

2020

Sensors

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Skeletal muscle is considered as a near-constant volume system, and the contractions of the muscle are related to the changes in tissue thickness. Assessment of the skeletal muscle contractile parameters such as maximum contraction thickness ( T h ), contraction time ( T c ), contraction velocity ( V c ), sustain time ( T s ), and half-relaxation ( T r ) provides valuable information for various medical applications. This paper presents a single-element wearable ultrasonic sensor (WUS) and a method to measure the skeletal muscle contractile parameters in A-mode ultrasonic data acquisition. The developed WUS was made of double-layer polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric polymer films with a simple and low-cost fabrication process. A flexible, lightweight, thin, and small size WUS would provide a secure attachment to the skin surface without affecting the muscle contraction dynamics of interest. The developed WUS was employed to monitor the contractions of gastrocnemius (GC) muscle of a human subject. The GC muscle contractions were evoked by the electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) at varying EMS frequencies from 2 Hz up to 30 Hz. The tissue thickness changes due to the muscle contractions were measured by utilizing a time-of-flight method in the ultrasonic through-transmission mode. The developed WUS demonstrated the capability to monitor the tissue thickness changes during the unfused and fused tetanic contractions. The tetanic progression level was quantitatively assessed using the parameter of the fusion index (FI) obtained. In addition, the contractile parameters ( T h , T c , V c , T s , and T r ) were successfully extracted from the measured tissue thickness changes. In addition, the unfused and fused tetanus frequencies were estimated from the obtained FI-EMS frequency curve. The WUS and ultrasonic method proposed in this study could be a valuable tool for inexpensive, non-invasive, and continuous monitoring of the skeletal muscle contractile properties.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrasound Measurement of Skeletal Muscle Contractile Parameters Using Flexible and Wearable Single-Element Ultrasonic Sensor

AlMohimeed

Ono

2020

Sensors

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“…Contents presented in this chapter have partially been published (or submitted for publication) in[107] by the author.…”

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confidence: 99%

A Method to Characterize Skeletal Muscle Contractile Properties Using a Wearable Ultrasonic Sensor

Yeung¹

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Skeletal muscle monitoring provides valuable information about the muscle contractile properties which could be useful in various clinical applications. A wearable ultrasonic sensor (WUS) was constructed using a 110 µm thick polyvinylidene fluoride polymer piezoelectric film to perform a continuous hands-free muscle monitoring. The lightweight and flexible properties of WUS enables the stable attachment to the skin surface without affecting the tissue motion of interest, which results in reduced motion artifacts. In order to perform reliable estimation of tissue thicknesses by the WUS in an ultrasonic pulse echo mode, the accuracy of selected signal analysis techniques was evaluated using a laser displacement measurement result as a reference. Then, a mechanical simulation experiment is conducted to evaluate the accuracy and repeatability of the WUS measurement system. In addition, the effects of moving averaging on the signal-to-noise ratio of the ultrasonic signals and the estimation accuracy of the tissue thickness were investigated. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed ultrasound technique for in-vivo measurements, continuous monitoring of the lateral head of triceps muscle of three healthy male subjects were monitored using the WUS. The tissue thickness changes due to the evoked muscle contraction by an electromyostimulation (EMS) at various pulse repetition frequencies were monitored. I thank Mr. Alex Proctor for assisting and technical supporting me in designing the mechanical phantom. I would like to thank my friends, Mr. Dipayan Mitra, Mr. Sean Trudel, and Mr. Shanmugaraja K.V who helped me in all possible ways. I would also like to thank Carleton University for supporting the work. I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents and my brother for their unwavering support.

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An Emerging Era: Conformable Ultrasound Electronics

Zhang,

Du,

Kim

et al. 2023

Advanced Materials

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Conformable electronics are regarded as the next generation of personal healthcare monitoring and remote diagnosis devices. In recent years, piezoelectric based conformable ultrasound electronics (cUSE) have been intensively studied due to their unique capabilities, including no‐radiative monitoring, soft tissue imaging, deep signal decoding, wireless power transfer, portability, and compatibility. This review provides a comprehensive understanding of cUSE for use in biomedical and healthcare monitoring systems and a summary of their recent advancements. Following an introduction to the fundamentals of piezoelectrics and ultrasound transducers, the critical parameters for transducer design are discussed. Next, five types of cUSE with their advantages and limitations are highlighted, and the fabrication of cUSE using advanced technologies is discussed. In addition, the working function, acoustic performance, and accomplishments in various applications are thoroughly summarized. We note that application considerations must be given to the tradeoffs between material selection, manufacturing processes, acoustic performance, mechanical integrity, and the entire integrated system. Finally, we highlight current challenges and directions for the development of cUSE, and provide research flow as the roadmap for future research. In conclusion, these advances in the fields of piezoelectric materials, ultrasound transducers, and conformable electronics spark an emerging era of biomedicine and personal healthcare.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

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Estimation of Tissue Thickness Changes Due to Electrical Muscle Stimulation Using Wearable Ultrasonic Sensor in Pulse Echo Mode

Cited by 4 publications

References 10 publications

Ultrasound Measurement of Skeletal Muscle Contractile Parameters Using Flexible and Wearable Single-Element Ultrasonic Sensor

Ultrasound Measurement of Skeletal Muscle Contractile Parameters Using Flexible and Wearable Single-Element Ultrasonic Sensor

A Method to Characterize Skeletal Muscle Contractile Properties Using a Wearable Ultrasonic Sensor

An Emerging Era: Conformable Ultrasound Electronics

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