| Title | Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: A Digital Computer-based Apnoea Monitor |
| Author(s) | S. Laxminarayan; O. Mills; L. Michelson; A. C. Cornwell; A. Marmarou; E. F. Costigan Jr.; E. D. Weitzman |
| Source | Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, Vol. 21, Pages 191-196 |
| Publication Date | 1983 |
| Abstract | It has been postulated that the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) may sometimes be due to abnormal maturation or injury to the brain stem centres that regulate respiration. This functionality of the brain stem respiratory centres may result in the interruption of the automatic inspiratory/expiratory cycle by recurrent periods of apnoea. There is a subgroup of infants known as 'near-miss' for SIDS, who survived a prolonged apnoeic episode during sleep which may have resulted in death. In a number of recent studies, the near-miss infant has been clearly identified as an infant at high risk for SIDS. Clinical studies conducted by using polygraphic and behavioral monitoring of near-miss infants have revealed numerous apnoeic episodes during sleep. Consequently, the necessity of monitoring these infants in a paediatric care unit has become well established both for diagnostic purposes and for subsequent outpatient care. In view of these findings, it has been increasingly more important to develop advanced sophisticated computer methods for the on-line detection and processing of apnoeas during in-hospital monitoring of infants. This paper describes a digital computer method of on-line apnoea processing for application during the in-hospital monitoring of infants. The method is based on the application of Walsh transformations to the expired CO2 signal measured in infants using a Beckman CO2 analyser. |