Respiration monitor with discrimination circuit - detects pauses between inhalation and exhalation as well as respiration rate

摘要

This monitor provides more information about a patient's respiration than the conventional ones which only detect respiration rates. A respiration detector is connected between the two inputs (2,3) of an input amplifier/filter (1). The amplified signal is then fed to the input (6) of a discrimination circuit (7). The first discriminator output (8) is high when breath is being drawn in and stays high until the flow direction is reversed. The second output (9) is high during both rest periods, i.e. the periods between exhalation and inhalation and vice versa. The third output (10) is high only during the rest period following exhalation. The three binary output of the discriminator are fed to counters (11 to 15), to provide data concerning respiration rate, pause times, efficiency, etc.