A novel wearable vest for tracking pulmonary congestion in acutely decompensated heart failure

摘要

Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by signs of congestion [1]. Milder forms of pulmonary congestion can be difficult for clinicians to evaluate, thus there is a need for new objective, nonin-vasive, and without adverse effects approaches to its assessment. Bioimpedance can be used to evaluate tissue hydration [2], as increased fluids lead to less resistance to electric currents, thus lower measurement values, and vice versa. In this study, we investigated a novel system consisting of a wearable vest with four textile electrodes mounted in two pairs on a flexible belt, ensuring that the inter-electrode distance is fixed (Fig. 1 A). The aim was to assess whether the bioimpedance data captured could track clinical improvements in the signs and symptoms of congestion due to acutely decompensated HF (ADHF).