Real-Time Signal Analysis of the ECG Signal for Generating an Artificial Pulse for Continuous Flow Blood Pumps Using Virtual Instrumentation

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the more useful powerful biomedical signals used for diagnosing various disease states of the heart. The acquisition of a real-time ECG signal requires expensive tools and machines like the CARDIART. The ECG signal also requires experienced doctors who can interpret the waveforms to diagnose disease. In this project, we introduce a method to utilize an ECG signal to artificially pulse a continuous flow blood pump used in patients with heart failure. This assistive device, when used with ECG signal processing capabilities, can result in a closed loop system where the patient’s heart rate is synchronized to the blood pump flow output to provide the more physiologic type of support. The project is based on the study of different types of blood pumps, focusing mainly on continuous flow pump and how ECG signal is used to control the speed of the pump. Thus, the objective of the project to develop a virtual instrument on LabVIEW that processes an ECG signal to extract heart rate which can be used to artificially pulse a continuous flow blood pump-specially Jarvik 2000 is achieved. Additionally, the project deals with the removal of noise and base wander from the real-time generated ECG.