The CRPH group is proud that Dr. Eline Oppersma received the Open eScience Call of the Netherlands eScience Center. Granted by the eScience Center, a research software engineer will work on the granted project, for 1 year. This eScience Center is an independent foundation, founded by NWO and SURF, with the digital skills to create innovative software solutions in academic research.
“Development of a software tool for automated surface EMG analysis of respiratory muscles during mechanical ventilation”
Dr. E. Oppersma, Universiteit Twente
The diaphragm is the most important respiratory muscle. When it fails and breathing needs mechanical support, it is essential to monitor diaphragmatic activity, both to prevent further failure and optimize treatment. This diaphragmatic monitoring is traditionally done by inserting a catheter with electrodes through the nose into the stomach. However, it is invasive, difficult to position and signals analysis is cumbersome. A novel, an alternative approach is to measure the electromyogram (EMG) via electrodes attached to the skin. Surface EMG is easy-to-use, non-invasive and applicable in both intensive care and in-home mechanical ventilation. Yet, analysis of these inherently complex data remains so far largely limited to research.
Purpose and intended result:
We hypothesize that additional advanced signal analysis techniques will simplify diagnostics and help to extract more information than the fixed parameters currently used. Specifically, we propose to develop a software tool for the automatic analysis of surface EMG data to improve mechanical ventilation.
