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Opto-electronic plethysmography: Noninvasive and accurate measurement of the volume of the chest wall and its different thoraco-abdominal compartments

Newton Santos de Faria Júnior, Israel Reis Santos, Ismael Sousa Dias, Jéssica Julioti Urbano, Renata Kelly de Palma, Nina Teixeira Fonsêca, Sergio Roberto Nacif, Fernando Sergio Studart Leitão Filho, Dirceu Costa, Ana Cristina de Medeiros Garcia Maciel, Guilherme Fregonessi, Antonio Pedotti, Andrea Aliverti, Luis Vicente Franco Oliveira

Med Sci Tech 2013; 54:147-150

DOI: 10.12659/MST.889664


Background: Opto-electronic plethysmography (OEP) is an innovative, new method to evaluate the ventilation pattern through an external measurement of chest wall surface motion. The OEP system measures changes in the complex shape of the chest wall during breathing by modeling the thoracoabdominal surface with a large number of points belonging to selected anatomical reference sites of the rib cage and abdomen.
Material/Methods: The automatic motion analyzer on which it is based uses passive markers composed of a thin film of retro-reflective paper on plastic hemispheres (5–10 mm diameter). The markers are placed on the skin by bi-adhesive hypoallergenic tape. Special video cameras (solid state CCDs) operate up to 140 frames per second synchronized with coaxial infrared flashing LEDs. Dedicated software computes the 3D coordinates of the different markers with high accuracy. No specific calibration is required besides the initial one performed during the installation of the system. The OEP System uses the accurate measurement of the 3-dimensional micro-movement of the points belonging to the chest wall to compute chest wall volumes. Special algorithms compute volume variations of the whole chest wall and of the different compartments. Time courses of these signals can be obtained at different sampling frequencies, up to 140 Hz.
Results: Several studies have been conducted under different conditions and have shown that the method provides a very accurate measurement of the volume of the chest wall and its variations during respiration.
Conclusions: The OEP System has the great advantage that it can measure breathing patterns in any condition, both in health and disease. It can be used to study respiratory kinematics and, if combined with pressure measurements, it can be used to study statics, dynamics, and energetics.

Keywords: Movement, Total Lung Capacity, Plethysmography

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