Design of a non-invasive sensing system for diagnosing gastric disorders

Authors

  • Rosario Morello Dept. DIIES, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1706-5789
  • Laura Fabbiano DMMM, Politecnico di Bari University, Italy
  • Paolo Oresta DMMM, Politecnico di Bari University, Italy
  • Claudio De Capua Dept. DIIES, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21014/acta_imeko.v10i4.1175

Abstract

Gastric disorders are widely spread among the population of any age. At the moment, the diagnosis is made by using invasive systems that cause several side effects. The present manuscript proposes an innovative non-invasive sensing system for diagnosing gastric dysfunctions. The Electro-GastroGraphy (EGG) technique is used to record myoelectrical signals of stomach activities. Although EGG technique is well known for a long time, several issues concerning the signal processing and the definition of suitable diagnostic criteria are still unresolved. So, EGG is to this day a trial practice. The authors want to overcome the current limitations of the technique and improve its relevance. To this purpose, a smart EGG sensing system has been designed to non-invasively diagnose gastric disorders. In detail, the system records the gastric slow waves by means of skin surface electrodes placed in the epigastric area. Cutaneous myoelectrical signals are so acquired from the body surface in proximity of stomach. Electro-gastrographic record is then processed. According to the diagnostic model designed from the authors, the system estimates specific diagnostic parameters in time and frequency domains. It uses Discrete Wavelet Transform to obtain power spectral density diagrams. The frequency and power of the EGG waveform and the dominant frequency components are so analyzed. The defined diagnostic parameters are put in comparison with the reference values of a normal EGG in order to estimate the presence of gastric pathologies by the analysis of arrhythmias (tachygastria, bradygastria and irregular rhythm). The paper aims to describe the design of the system and of the arrhythmias detection algorithm. Prototype development and experimental data will be presented in future works. Preliminary results show an interesting relevance of the suggested technique so that it can be considered as a promising non-invasive tool for diagnosing gastrointestinal motility disorders.

Author Biography

Rosario Morello, Dept. DIIES, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria

Rosario Morello was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy, in 1978. He received the M.Sc. Degree (cum laude) in Electronic Engineering and the Ph.D. Degree in Electrical and Automation Engineering from the University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy, in 2002 and 2006, respectively. Since 2005, he has been temporary Professor of Electrical and Electronic Measurements at the Department DIIES of the same University. At the moment, he is Associate Professor and Scientific Director of the Advanced Thermography Center at Dept. DIIES, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy. His main research interests include advanced thermography, the design and characterization of distributed and intelligent measurement systems, wireless sensor network, environmental monitoring, decision-making problems and measurement uncertainty, process quality assurance, instrumentation reliability and calibration, biomedical applications and statistical signal processing, non-invasive systems, measurement instrumentation and methodologies related to Healthcare Systems.

Prof. Morello is a member of the Italian Group of Electrical and Electronic Measurements (GMEE) and of IEEE Association.

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Published

2021-12-30

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 4 (2021)

Section

Research Papers

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