Department of Physics and Engineering, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2023 Jun;51(6):1310-1321. doi: 10.1007/s10439-023-03137-w. Epub 2023 Jan 19.
Gastrointestinal motility patterns can be mapped via electrical signals measured non-invasively on the body surface. However, short-term (≈ 2-4 h) meal response studies as well as long-term monitoring (≥ 24 h) may be hindered by skin irritation inherent with traditional Ag/AgCl pre-gelled ("wet") electrodes. The aim of this work was to investigate the practical utility of using dry electrodes for GI body-surface electrical measurements. To directly compare dry vs. wet electrodes, we simultaneously recorded electrical signals from both types arranged in a 9-electrode array during an ≈ 2.5 h colonic meal-response study. Wavelet-based analyses were used to identify the signature post-meal colonic cyclic motor patterns. Blinded comparison of signal quality was carried out by four expert manual reviewers in order to assess the practical utility of each electrode type for identifying GI activity patterns. Dry electrodes recorded high-quality GI signals with signal-to-noise ratio of 10.0 ± 3.5 dB, comparable to that of wet electrodes (9.9 ± 3.6 dB). Although users rated dry electrodes as slightly more difficult to self-apply, they caused no skin irritation and were thus better tolerated overall. Dry electrodes are a more comfortable alternative to conventional wet electrode systems, and may offer a potentially viable option for long-term GI monitoring studies.
胃肠动力模式可以通过无创地测量体表的电信号来绘制。然而，短期（约 2-4 小时）餐反应研究以及长期监测（≥24 小时）可能会受到传统 Ag/AgCl 预凝胶（“湿”）电极固有的皮肤刺激的阻碍。这项工作的目的是研究使用干电极进行胃肠道体表电测量的实际应用。为了直接比较干电极和湿电极，我们在大约 2.5 小时的结肠餐反应研究中同时记录了两种类型的电极排列在 9 电极阵列中的电信号。基于小波的分析用于识别餐后结肠周期性运动模式的特征。通过四名专家手动审阅者进行信号质量的盲法比较，以评估每种电极类型对于识别胃肠道活动模式的实际应用。干电极记录的胃肠道信号质量高，信噪比为 10.0±3.5dB，与湿电极（9.9±3.6dB）相当。尽管用户认为干电极自己应用起来稍微困难一些，但它们不会引起皮肤刺激，因此总体上更耐受。干电极是传统湿电极系统的更舒适的替代方案，并且可能为长期胃肠道监测研究提供一种可行的选择。
