Electromyogram recording of the diaphragm: modeling, simulation, and experimental comparison

Recording of the electrical activity of the diaphragm (EMG_di) have been used to evaluate its functionality and its fatigue. Several studies to record the EMG_di activity using bipolar or ring electrodes were reported. Most of these studies are based on experimental data without any idea about the dimensions and the types of the suitable electrodes. The EMG_di recording is contaminated by the electrical activity of the heart (ECG), movement of diaphragm and lung volume changes. The aim of this paper is to built a model able to represent and simulate the electrical functionality of the diaphragm and record its activity using an esophageal electrode. The potential distribution on the electrodes was obtained by solving Laplace equation using finite element method. Our simulation results are able to reproduce experimental setup and shows good concordance.