Preliminary results of a single, easy-to-use device for multimodal detection of intervals associated with heart failure decompensation

The use of cardiac signal-recording tools to monitor prognostic and diagnostic parameters in heart failure (HF) is an emerging field, constrained by usability and a low signal-to-noise environment. We evaluated a compact, user-friendly prototype for simultaneous acquisition of phonocardiography, photoplethysmography, electrocardiography, and subsequent processing to determine this strategy’s usefulness in identifying parameters related to HF decompensation.

We conducted a single-centre prospective study of 41 hospitalized patients; 36 included in the analysis. Autonomous recordings of phonocardiography, electrocardiography, and pulse-wave photoplethysmography were obtained. Signal processing employed a new supervised iterative filtering pipeline based on detection of coupled energy peaks, together with an independent analysis of the pulse-wave plethysmogram, enabling extraction of clinically relevant intervals even when one modality was of insufficient quality. In the cohort admitted with decompensated HF, measures at discharge showed shortening of electromechanical coupling time (0.148 ± 0.051 vs. 0.108 ± 0.039 s; P < 0.001), isovolumetric contraction time (0.152 ± 0.098 vs. 0.071 ± 0.023 s; P < 0.001), and ejection period (0.257 ± 0.078 vs. 0.344 ± 0.082 s; P < 0.0001) compared with admission. These findings were corroborated against the cardiology inpatient cohort without clinical congestion and contextualized using a publicly available cohort of 338 healthy individuals.

This study presents initial evidence that a compact, easy-to-use device permits autonomous acquisition of diagnostic cardiac signals by non-expert users and that the proposed processing strategy reliably detects clinically relevant intervals in low-signal-to-noise ratio recordings, supporting its potential utility for monitoring patients with HF.