Monitoring spinal cord injured patients during activity using a datalogger: preliminary results

The Compumedics "Siesta" datalogger was used to set up and trial the potential and initial applications of a remote datalogger to study a range of physiological and other changes in spinal cord injured (SCI) patients undergoing rehabilitation following traumatic injury. The group of 6 patients (weeks 3 to 34 post injury) was selected due to changes expected with neurological and functional recovery. The 32 channel datalogger was used to record signals of ECG, Thoracic and Abdominal respiration, Pulse Oximetry, piezoelectric accelerometers and thermistors. Five (5) tests were completed for each subject over a period of three (3) months. This study extended on work in sleep lab testing in normals and SCI at Austin RMC. Data analysis involved pattern recognition, simple analysis of heart rate signal, and more complex focused signal analysis. Datalogger measurements have revealed some changes in physiology including "autonomic failure" unique to SCI patients during normal activity. Further research is required to consolidate results through a larger study group.