Publication: Programming and testing of a small-size ECG monitor for small animal gated imaging
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2015-06
Defense date
2015-07-07
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Abstract
Pre-clinical cardiac imaging has become one of the most important non-invasive
techniques widely used nowadays for studying the electrophysiology and
hemodynamic behaviour of the heart using small animals’ models.
Despite the great potential it offers for clinical applications in humans, the
introduction of movement artefacts and blurring in the images due to the inherent
blood flow and respiration among others, reduces significantly the quality of
imaging leading to mistakes in results interpretation. A solution to this problem is
the synchronization of the electrocardiogram with the imaging machine in a process
called gated imaging to trigger image acquisition at specific moments of the cardiac
cycle.
In this manner, the principal objective of the presented Bachelor Thesis was to
design, develop, program and test a small size ECG monitor for small animal gated
imaging. The main functions of this device are monitoring the cardiac activity at the
same time a TTL pulse is activated in real-time for gating synchronization with the
imaging machine.
A microcontroller, an analog-to-digital converter and a touch screen were connected
together to form a small ECG device that is able to record bioelectrical signals of the
heart, to process them and display the electrocardiogram on the screen and
generate a TTL pulse for gated imaging. Communication in between the different
modules was enabled by SPI protocol implementation.
The evaluation of the ECG prototype was performed first in the laboratory with an
ECG simulator showing good performance to be later tried in small animals. On the
whole the results were satisfactory except from some issues in TTL pulse activation
that might need further improvements to enhance gated imaging implementation.
This project and the future improved versions of this ECG device, will have a big
scientific and social impact. This small size ECG monitor will not only offer an easy
to use portable monitoring device for pre-clinical research but also a powerful tool
for gated imaging that will be essential for the development of revolutionary drugs
to treat heart diseases.
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Keywords
Heart, ECG, Gated imaging, TTL pulser, Pre-clinical research, Microcontroller, Proceso de imágenes