Workshop

Workshop#

Welcome#

Introductions#

This workshop is being run by researchers from MIT, the University of Cambridge, and City, University of London. You can find details of the individuals who have contributed here.

Outline#

The workshop brings together three themes:

Open research: Facilitating high quality research through the sharing of data and code. This may include the use of online repositories such as PhysioNet, collaborative code development using tools and platforms such as Git and GitHub, and making research reproducible through the sharing of the data and code used in studies. Indeed, the tools used in this workshop are hosted in a GitHub repository here.

Biomedical signal processing: Research into techniques to derive information from physiological signals, often for health or well-being purposes. In this workshop, we’ll be referring to physiological signals which are sampled many times per second, such as the electrocardiogram (ECG).

PPG signals at rest and during exercise

Source: Charlton PH, Photoplethysmogram signals at rest and during exercise, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Cuffless blood pressure estimation: Estimating blood pressure from physiological signals which can be acquired unobtrusively without the use of a blood pressure cuff. Broadly, there are three approaches for cuffless blood pressure estimation. These are based on the observation that the speed with which the pulse wave propagates increases with blood pressure:

  • measuring the pulse transit time (PTT) between two arterial pulse waves (one closer to the heart and one further away).

  • measuring the pulse arrival time (PAT) between a marker of ventricular contraction, and the arrival of a pulse wave (preferably at a peripheral site)

  • estimating BP from the shape of a pulse wave (such as a photoplethysmography, PPG, pulse wave), since changes in pulse wave velocity and BP influence the shapes of pulse waves.

Deriving indicators of BP

Source: Charlton PH et al., Assessing hemodynamics from the photoplethysmogram to gain insights into vascular age: a review from VascAgeNet, AJP Heart Circ, 2022 (CC BY 4.0).

Questions#

Consider the following to familiarise yourself with the concepts of this workshop:

  • Have you used publicly available data or code before?

  • Have you shared data or code from your research?

  • How would you rate your biomedical signal processing skills?

  • Have you ever worked on estimating BP from PPG signals?

In-person event#

These resources were designed for the following workshop at the 2022 IEEE EMBC Conference in Glasgow, UK:

‘Open research in Biomedical Signal Processing: Cuffless Blood Pressure Estimation Using the MIMIC-IV Database’

  • 11th July 2022

  • 08.30 - 12.30

  • Boisdale-2, Ground Floor (as shown in the Ground Level floorplan here)

  • Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Centre

Follow the links on the left for further details of the workshop.

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