In vivo and in silico evaluation of multiorgan variability for the detection of critical physiological changes of patients in Intensive Care Units

The project focuses on the characterization of the evolution with time of the properties of physiological signals recorded in different clinical settings, describing sepsis shock and other clinical complications that are common features in Intensive Care Units. Changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation will be studied through an array of more than 70 techniques; some will consider the signals one-at-a-time, others will analyze the signals simultaneously. The final objective is characterizing the interrelationship between the different techniques and their clinical relevance in the detection of changes in the physiological conditions of patients in the ICU. The long term goal is using the collect results to create predictors of those changes, promoting a shift from o descriptive medicine, where the disease is cured only when its pathological effects are “visible” to physicians, to a predictive medicine, where the disease is detected before having deleterious effects on the patients, improving diagnosis and treatment of illnesses.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Andre Longtin

Student:

Andrea Bravi

Partner:

Therapeutic Monitoring Systems Inc.

Discipline:

Physics / Astronomy

Sector:

Medical devices

University:

University of Ottawa