METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING CARDIOVASCULAR INFORMATION BY MEASURING BETWEEN TWO EXTREMITIES

摘要

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for continuously obtaining information about the cardiovascular system, beat by beat, exclusively based on measurements between two extremities, carried out by means of a pair of distal electrodes on each extremity. The measurement is carried out by circulating an alternating current between an electrode on each extremity and measuring the voltage between the other two electrodes, one also on each extremity. Said voltage has a low-frequency component that is the electrocardiogram (or ECG) and another component that has the frequency of the injected alternating current and from which the so-called impedance plethysmogram is extracted. The cardiovascular information is determined by measuring the lapse between a predefined characteristic element of the ECG and one from the IPG.