Rajendra Acharya U

EEG Signal Analysis: A Survey

The EEG (Electroencephalogram) signal indicates the electrical activity of the brain. They are highly random in nature and may contain useful information about the brain state. However, it is very difficult to get useful information from these signals directly in the time domain just by observing them. They are basically non-linear and nonstationary in nature. Hence, important features can be extracted for the diagnosis of different diseases using advanced signal processing techniques. In this paper the effect of different events on the EEG signal, and different signal processing methods used to extract the hidden information from the signal are discussed in detail. Linear, Frequency domain, time - frequency and non-linear techniques like correlation dimension (CD), largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE), Hurst exponent (H), different entropies, fractal dimension(FD), Higher Order Spectra (HOS), phase space plots and recurrence plots are discussed in detail using a typical normal EEG signal.

Nonlinear analysis of EEG signals at different mental states

BackgroundThe EEG (Electroencephalogram) is a representative signal containing information about the condition of the brain. The shape of the wave may contain useful information about the state of the brain. However, the human observer can not directly monitor these subtle details. Besides, since bio-signals are highly subjective, the symptoms may appear at random in the time scale. Therefore, the EEG signal parameters, extracted and analyzed using computers, are highly useful in diagnostics. This work discusses the effect on the EEG signal due to music and reflexological stimulation.MethodsIn this work, nonlinear parameters like Correlation Dimension (CD), Largest Lyapunov Exponent (LLE), Hurst Exponent (H) and Approximate Entropy (ApEn) are evaluated from the EEG signals under different mental states.ResultsThe results obtained show that EEG to become less complex relative to the normal state with a confidence level of more than 85% due to stimulation.ConclusionsIt is found that the measures are significantly lower when the subjects are under sound or reflexologic stimulation as compared to the normal state. The dimension increases with the degree of the cognitive activity. This suggests that when the subjects are under sound or reflexologic stimuli, the number of parallel functional processes active in the brain is less and the brain goes to a more relaxed state

Comprehensive analysis of cardiac health using heart rate signals

The electrocardiogram is a representative signal containing information about the condition of the heart. The shape and size of the P-QRS-T wave, the time intervals between its various peaks, etc may contain useful information about the nature of disease affecting the heart. However, the human observer cannot directly monitor these subtle details. Besides, since bio-signals are highly subjective, the symptoms may appear at random in the time scale. Therefore, the heart rate variability signal parameters, extracted and analyzed using computers, are highly useful in diagnostics. Analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) has become a popular noninvasive tool for assessing the activities of the autonomic nervous system. The HRV analysis is based on the concept that fast fluctuations may specifically reflect changes of sympathetic and vagal activity. It shows that the structure generating the signal is not simply linear, but also involves nonlinear contributions. These signals are essentially nonstationary; may contain indicators of current disease, or even warnings about impending diseases. The indicators may be present at all times or may occur at random in the time scale. However, to study and pinpoint abnormalities in voluminous data collected over several hours is strenuous and time consuming. This paper deals with the analysis of eight types of cardiac abnormalities and presents the ranges of linear and nonlinear parameters calculated for them with a confidence level of more than 90%.

Application of Higher Order Spectra for the Identification of Diabetes Retinopathy Stages

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a condition where the retina is damaged due to fluid leaking from the blood vessels into the retina. In extreme cases, the patient will become blind. Therefore, early detection of diabetic retinopathy is crucial to prevent blindness. Various image processing techniques have been used to identify the different stages of diabetes retinopathy. The application of non-linear features of the higher-order spectra (HOS) was found to be efficient as it is more suitable for the detection of shapes. The aim of this work is to automatically identify the normal, mild DR, moderate DR, severe DR and prolific DR. The parameters are extracted from the raw images using the HOS techniques and fed to the support vector machine (SVM) classifier. This paper presents classification of five kinds of eye classes using SVM classifier. Our protocol uses, 300 subjects consisting of five different kinds of eye disease conditions. We demonstrate a sensitivity of 82% for the classifier with the specificity of 88%.

Simultaneous storage of patient information with medical images in the frequency domain

Digital watermarking is a technique of hiding specific identification data for copyright authentication. Most of the medical images are compressed by joint photographic experts group (JPEG) standard for storage. The watermarking is adapted here for interleaving patient information with medical images during JPEG compression, to reduce storage and transmission overheads. The text data is encrypted before interleaving with images in the frequency domain to ensure greater security. The graphical signals are also interleaved with the image. The result of this work is tabulated for a specific example and also compared with the spatial domain interleaving.

Simultaneous storage of medical images in the spatial and frequency domain: A comparative study

BackgroundDigital watermarking is a technique of hiding specific identification data for copyright authentication. This technique is adapted here for interleaving patient information with medical images, to reduce storage and transmission overheads.MethodsThe patient information is encrypted before interleaving with images to ensure greater security. The bio-signals are compressed and subsequently interleaved with the image. This interleaving is carried out in the spatial domain and Frequency domain. The performance of interleaving in the spatial, Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coefficients is studied. Differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) is employed for data compression as well as encryption and results are tabulated for a specific example.ResultsIt can be seen from results, the process does not affect the picture quality. This is attributed to the fact that the change in LSB of a pixel changes its brightness by 1 part in 256. Spatial and DFT domain interleaving gave very less %NRMSE as compared to DCT and DWT domain.ConclusionThe Results show that spatial domain the interleaving, the %NRMSE was less than 0.25% for 8-bit encoded pixel intensity. Among the frequency domain interleaving methods, DFT was found to be very efficient.

Automated Identification of Diabetic Type 2 Subjects with and without Neuropathy Using Wavelet Transform on Pedobarograph

Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism—the way our bodies use digested food for growth and energy. The most common form of diabetes is Type 2 diabetes. Abnormal plantar pressures are considered to play a major role in the pathologies of neuropathic ulcers in the diabetic foot. The purpose of this study was to examine the plantar pressure distribution in normal, diabetic Type 2 with and without neuropathy subjects. Foot scans were obtained using the F-scan (Tekscan USA) pressure measurement system. Various discrete wavelet coefficients were evaluated from the foot images. These extracted parameters were extracted using the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and presented to the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and a four-layer feed forward neural network for classification. We demonstrated a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of more than 85% for the classifiers.

Efficient Storage and Transmission of Digital Fundus Images with Patient Information Using Reversible Watermarking Technique and Error Control Codes

Handling of patient records is increasing overhead costs for most of the hospitals in this digital age. In most hospitals and health care centers, the patient text information and corresponding medical images are stored separately as different files. There is a possibility of mishandling the text file containing patient history. We are proposing a novel method for the compact storage and transmission of patient information with the medical images. In this technique, we are using a reversible watermarking technique to hide the patient information within the retinal fundus image. There is a possibility that these medical images, which carry patient information, can get corrupted by the noise during the storage or transmission. The safe recovery of patient information is important in this situation. So, to recover the maximum amount of text information in the noisy environment, the encrypted patient information is coded with error control coding (ECC) techniques. The performance of three types of ECC for various levels of salt & pepper (S & P) noise is tabulated for a specific example. The proposed system is more reliable even in a noisy environment and saves memory.

An Efficient Automated Algorithm to Detect Ocular Surface Temperature on Sequence of Thermograms Using Snake and Target Tracing Function

Functional infrared (IR) imaging is widely adopted in medical field nowadays, with more emphasis on breast cancer and ocular abnormalities. In this article, an algorithm is presented to accurately locate the eye and cornea in ocular thermographic sequences, which were recorded utilizing functional infrared imaging. The localization is achieved by snake algorithm coupled with a newly proposed target tracing function. The target tracing function enables automated localization, allows the absence of any manual assistance before the algorithm runs. Genetic algorithm is used to perform the search for global minimum on the function to produce desired localization. On all the cases we have studied, in average the region encircled by the algorithm covers 92% of the true ocular region. As for the non-ocular region covered, it only accounts for less than 5% of the encircled region.

Computer-Based Identification of Breast Cancer Using Digitized Mammograms

High-quality mammography is the most effective technology presently available for breast cancer screening. Efforts to improve mammography focus on refining the technology and improving how it is administered and X-ray films are interpreted. Computer-based intelligent system for identification of the breast cancer can be very useful in diagnosis and its management. This paper presents a comparative approach for classification of three kinds of mammogram namely normal, benign and cancer. The features are extracted from the raw images using the image processing techniques and fed to the two classifiers namely: the feedforward architecture neural network classifier, and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) for comparison.. Our protocol uses, 360 subjects consisting of normal, benign and cancer breast conditions. We demonstrate a sensitivity and specificity of more than 90% for these classifiers.