Sensitivity of a wearable bioimpedance monitor to changes in the thoracic fluid content of heart failure patients

In the context of home telehealth, spectroscopic bioimpedance measurements have the potential to aid therapy guidance and health maintenance in patients at risk of abnormal fluid accumulation such as heart failure patients. To this aim, monitoring devices need to be sensitive to subtle changes in congestion and hemodynamics. In this study, we assess the sensitivity of a wearable trans-thoracic bioimpedance monitor (BIM) with textile electrodes to variations in the thoracic fluid content of heart failure patients induced by postural maneuvers and omission of medications such as diuretics. The results indicate that the BIM is able to follow these changes and that the largest effect size is accounted by the omission of heart failure medications.