Ivanović, M.D. (57038326200)M.D. (57038326200)IvanovićPetrovic, J. (11541124800)J. (11541124800)PetrovicSavić, A. (54279422000)A. (54279422000)SavićGligorić, G. (25931438200)G. (25931438200)GligorićMiletić, M. (57038553800)M. (57038553800)MiletićVukčević, M. (6602095465)M. (6602095465)VukčevićBojović, B. (55903740900)B. (55903740900)BojovićHadžievski, Lj (6602497159)Lj (6602497159)HadžievskiAllsop, T. (9740404900)T. (9740404900)AllsopWebb, D.J. (35432474100)D.J. (35432474100)Webb2025-06-122025-06-122018https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6579/aab7achttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85047372314&doi=10.1088%2f1361-6579%2faab7ac&partnerID=40&md5=40363adefb326476f2bbcaa06cf95199https://remedy.med.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/6444Objective: The ventilators involved in non-invasive mechanical ventilation commonly provide ventilator support via a facemask. The interface of the mask with a patient promotes air leaks that cause errors in the feedback information provided by a pneumatic sensor and hence patient-ventilator asynchrony with multiple negative consequences. Our objective is to test the possibility of using chest-wall motion measured by an optical fibre-grating sensor as a more accurate non-invasive ventilator triggering mechanism. Approach: The basic premise of our approach is that the measurement accuracy can be improved by using a triggering signal that precedes pneumatic triggering in the neuro-ventilatory coupling sequence. We propose a technique that uses the measurement of chest-wall curvature by a long-period fibre-grating sensor. The sensor was applied externally to the rib-cage and interrogated in the lateral (edge) filtering scheme. The study was performed on 34 healthy volunteers. Statistical data analysis of the time lag between the fibre-grating sensor and the reference pneumotachograph was preceded by the removal of the unwanted heartbeat signal by wavelet transform processing. Main results: The results show a consistent fibre-grating signal advance with respect to the standard pneumatic signal by (230 ± 100) ms in both the inspiratory and expiratory phases. We further show that heart activity removal yields a tremendous improvement in sensor accuracy by reducing it from 60 ml to 0.3 ml. Significance: The results indicate that the proposed measurement technique may lead to a more reliable triggering decision. Its imperviousness to air leaks, non-invasiveness, low-cost and ease of implementation offer good prospects for applications in both clinical and homecare ventilation. © 2018 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.long-period grating sensornon-invasive mechanical ventilationOptical fbresventilator triggering