Electrical characterization of conductive textile materials and its evaluation as electrodes for venous occlusion plethysmography

GOY, C.B.; DOMINGUEZ, J.M.; GÓMEZ LÓPEZ, M.; MADRID, R.E.; HERRERA, M.C.

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Informa Healthcare

Año: 2013 vol. 37 p. 359 - 367

0309-1902

The ambulatory monitoring of biosignals involves the use of sensors, electrodes, actuators, processing tools and wireless communication modules. When a garment includes these elements with the purpose of recording vital signs and responding to specific situations it is call a ?Smart Wearable System?. Over the last years several authors have suggested that conductive textile material (e-textiles) could perform as electrode for these systems. This work aims at implementing an electrical characterization of e-textiles and an evaluation of their ability to act as textile electrodes for lower extremity venous occlusion plethysmography (LEVOP). The etextile electrical characterization is carried out using two experimental set-ups (in vitro evaluation). Besides, LEVOP records are obtained from healthy volunteers (in vivo evaluation). Standard Ag/AgCl electrodes are used for comparison in all tests. Results shown that the proposed e-textiles are suitable for LEVOP recording and a good agreement between evaluations (in vivo and in vitro) is found.