CA1315349C - Electrocardiographic electrode - Google Patents

Electrocardiographic electrode

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Publication number
CA1315349C
CA1315349C CA000531813A CA531813A CA1315349C CA 1315349 C CA1315349 C CA 1315349C CA 000531813 A CA000531813 A CA 000531813A CA 531813 A CA531813 A CA 531813A CA 1315349 C CA1315349 C CA 1315349C
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
viscous
person
electrode
skin
base member
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Fee Related
Application number
CA000531813A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Chuji Shimizu
Hirokatsu Inoue
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Fukuda Denshi Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Fukuda Denshi Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Fukuda Denshi Co Ltd filed Critical Fukuda Denshi Co Ltd
Priority to CA000531813A priority Critical patent/CA1315349C/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1315349C publication Critical patent/CA1315349C/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current

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  • Measurement And Recording Of Electrical Phenomena And Electrical Characteristics Of The Living Body (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

An electrocardiographic electrode is disclosed, which is held in close contact with a person's skin for deriving a weak voltage from an inner part of the person.
The electrode comprises a viscous base member to be held in close contact with the person's skin and having a central opening, a reinforcement member bonded to the front surface of the viscous base member to close the opening, and an electrode member provided in the reinforcement member. The viscous base member with the opening is viscous both on the rear side to be held in close contact with the skin and on the front side coupled to the lead connector.

Description

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This invention relates to an electrocardiographic electrode for deriving a weak voltage from a person and, more particularly, to an electrocardiographic electrode having a structure, in which a water-proof suction member for covering the electrocardiographic electrode held in close contact with the person's skin is strongly bonded to the electrocardiographic electrode so that it will not be detached therefrom.
As is well known in the art, electricity generated in a person is induced by the activity of the heart, brain, muscles, etc.
Particularly, electricity induced in the heart is derived and recorded as a weak voltage induced on the person's skin using an external electrocardiograph. When the electrocardiograph is used, its input section is electrically coupled -to the person. To this end, electrocardiographic electrodes have to be held in close contact with the person's skin.
An object of the invention is to provide an electrocardiographic electrode, which can solve or substantially reduce the above problems and permit an accurate electrocardiogram to be reliably obtained.
According to the invention, there is provided an electrocardiographic electrode to be held in close contact with a person's skin for deriviny a weak voltage from an inner part of the person comprising a viscous base member to be held in close contact with the person's skin and having a central opening, a reinforcement member bonded to the front surface of said viscous base member to close said opening, and an electrode member provided in said reinforcement member, said viscous base member with said opening being viscous both on the rear side to be held in close contact with the skin and on the front side coupled to a lead connector.
BrieE_Description of the Drawinqs Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the front side of an embodiment of an electrocardiographic electrode according to the invention;
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Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the rear or back side of the electrocardiographic electrode;
Fig. 3 is a view for explaining the use of the electrocardiographic electrode; and Figs. 4 to 6 are views for explaining a prior art electrocardiographic electrode.
A prior art electrocardiographic electrode which is held in contact with a person~s skin in use will now be described with reference to Figs. 4 to 6. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of electrocardiographic electrode 1. The electrocardiographic electrode has a substantially circular, viscous base member ~. The viscous base member 2 is an annular woven cloth member having a central aperture or opening 3. Its rear side, which is held in close contact with the person's skin M as shown in Fig. 6, is viscous, i.e. sticky. The opening 3 of the viscous base member 2 is closed by an electrode support 4, which is made of a hard synthetic resin and is formed on the top or front side of the viscous base member 2. A magnetic lead coupler 5 projects from the~ front surface of the electrode support 4. An electrode member 6 is secured to the lower or rear surface of the lead coupler 5. The electrode member 6 is held in direct contact with the person's s~in ~ to derive a weak voltage from the person's heart.
Fig. 5 shows the rear side of the lead coupler 7.
A lead 10 is coupled to the lead coupler 7 for feeding the heart's weak voltage derived by the electrode member 6 through the lead 10 to the electrocardiograph ~not shown). The lead coupler 7 has substantially the same size as the electrocardiographic electrode and is made of a hard resin. It has a recess 8 formed on the rear side.
A magnetic electrode coupler 9 is accommodated in the recess 8 and s~cured to the bottom thereof. One end of the lead 10 is connected to the electrode coupler 9, and its other end is connected to the electrocardiograph (not shown).
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To obtain an electrocardiogram using the electrocardiographic electrode 1 having the above construction, the viscous base member 2 of the electrode 1 is bonded to a person's skin M, as shown in Fig. 6. Then, the lead coupler 7 is coupled to the electrocardiographic electrode 1 with its magnetic electrode coupler 9 magnetically attracted to the lead coupler 5 of the electrocardiographic electrode 1. In this state, a heart's weak voltage derived by the electrode member 6 is coupled through the lead 10 to an electrocardiograph (not shown) for recording~
While the electrocardiographic electrode 1 is held in close con~act with the patient's skin for obtaining a patient's electrocardiogram, the lead coupler 7 coupled to the electrode 1 is liable to be detached from the electrode due to an unconscious movement, e.g., due to the patient tossing-about in sleep. In such a case, noise is produced so that an accurate electrocardiogram can no longer be obtained.
Further, the patient sometimes unconsciously pulls out the lead 10 extending from th~e lead connector 7. If the lead 10 is pulled extremely strongly, again detachment of the lead coupler 7 from the electrocardiographic ele~trode 1 results, so that an accurate electrocardiogram can no longer be obtained.
Further, the patient may take a bath with electrocardiographic electrodes held in close contact with the skin. Also, an electrocardiogram is sometimes produced while the patient is taking part in physical exercise, e.g., swimming. In such a case, a water-proof suction member is used to cover the electrocardiographic electrode together with the lead connector. However, the water-proof suction member is liable to ~e detached by the action of water so that an accurate electrocardiogram can no longer be obtained.

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Detailed ~escription of the Pre~erred Embodiment An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a perspec-tive view showing the front side of an embodiment oE an electrocardiographic electrode according to the invention, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the rear side of the electrocardiographic electrode of Fig. 1. The electrocardiographic electrode is designated as 11.
The electrocardiographic electrode 11 has a viscous base member 12. The viscous base member 12 is an annular member having a central aperture or opening 13. The detailed structure of the viscous base member 12 will be described later.
The central opening 13 of the viscous base member 12 is closed by a disk-like reinforcement member 14 which is bonded to the top or front surface of the viscous base member 12. As shown in Fig. 1, the reinforcement member 14 has a smaller diameter than the viscous base member 12 and is made of vinyl chloride. The reinforcement member 14 has a ring-like projection 14a formed on the front side~ A magnetic lead coupler 15 is received in the ring-like projection 14a~
An electrode member 16 is bonded to the underside of the lead coupler 15, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
An electrode member cover 17 is bonded to the electrode member 16. The cover 17 consists of a water-containing gel layer prepared from glutine, agar, polyacrylamide, etc. It has considerable viscosity and also has electric conductivity. The electrode member cover 17 is held in close contact with the skin to feed a weak voltage induced on the skin to the electrode member 16.
Without the electrode member cover 17, i.e., if the electrode member 16 is held in direct close contact with .~ .

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the skin, the weak voltage cannot be accurately measured due to the contact resistance ofered by the skin surface. Heretofore, it has been the practice to apply cream or the like to the skin beforehand so as to reduce the contact resistance. The electrode member 16 is then held in contact with the cream for the measurement of the weak voltage. To apply cream whenever the measurement of the weak voltage is done, however, is cumbersome and inefficient. The water-containing gel layer noted above, bonded to the electrode member 16, serves the role of cream and eliminates the inconvenience of applying cream for each time of measurement. The water-containing gel layer as the electrode member cover 17 may be replaced with a polyurethane foam layer impregnated with jelly.
The viscous base member 12, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is disk-like and obtained using foamed polyethylene, an independently foamed butadiene rubber sheet non-woven cloth and a woven cloth. As shown in Fig. 2, the rear surface 12b of the viscous base member 12 is made viscous in order to obtain close contact of the electrocardiographic electrode 11 with the person's skin M
as shown in Fig. 3. Further, the viscous base member 12 is viscous not only on the rear side 12b but also on the front side 12a, as shown in Fig. 1, so that a lead connector 18, as shown in Fig. 3, can ~e bonded to it.
As shown in Fig. 3, the lead connector 18 has a water-proof suction member 19. A magnetic electrode coupler 20 is secured to a substantially central portion of the inner surface l9a of the water-proof suction member 19. The electrode couplex 20 is attracted to the lead coupler 15 of the electrocardiographic electrode 11. A
lead securement member 21 is provided on the top surEace of the water-proof suction member 19. One end of a lsad 22 is connected to the lead securement member 21. The other end of the lead 22 is connected to an electrocardiograph (not shown).

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The electrocardiographic electrode 11 having the above construction is used as follows. First, the rear surface 12b of the viscous base member 12 of the electrocardiographic electrode 11 is held in close contact with the person's skin M, as shown in Fig. 3. Then, the lead connector 18 i~ coupled to the electrocardiographic electrode 11 with the electrode coupler 20 attracted to the lead coupler 15 of the electrocardiographic electrode 11 in close contact with the person's skin M. At this time, the inner surface l9a of the water-proof suction member 19 is held in close contact with the front surface 12a of the viscous base member 12. Since the ront surface 12a of the viscous base member 12 is viscous, the inner surface l9a of the water-proof suction member 19 is bonded to the surface 12a. Thus, the lead connector 18 is firmly bonded to and never detached from the electrocardiographic electrode 11.
As has been described in the for~going, the ~iscous base member is made viscous on both the front and rear sides, so that the lead connector can be held firmly bonded to and never detached from the electrocardiographic electrode. It is thus possible to obtain an electrocardiograph of a patient while the patient is taking a bath or exercising.
Further, the lead connector can b~ prevented from detaching from the electrocardiographic electrode very simply and inexpensively by merely making both the front and rear surfaces of the viscous base member viscous.

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Claims (6)

1. An electrocardiographic electrode to be held in close contact with a person's skin for deriving a weak voltage from an inner part of the person comprising a viscous base member to be held in close contact with the person's skin and having a central opening, a reinforcement member bonded to the front surface of said viscous base member to close said opening, and an electrode member provided in said reinforcement member, said viscous base member with said opening being viscous both on the rear side to be held in close contact with the skin and on the front side coupled to a lead connector.
2. The electrocardiographic electrode according to claim 1, wherein said viscous base member is made of a viscous foamed resin on both the front and rear sides.
3. The electrocardiographic electrode according to claim 1, wherein said viscous base member is made from rubber sheets having a foamed layer on the front and rear sides.
4. The electrocardiographic electrode according to claim 1, wherein said viscous base member is made of non-woven cloth on both the front and rear sides.
5. The electrocardiographic electrode according to claim 1, wherein said viscous base member is made of viscous woven cloths on both the front and rear sides.
6. Apparatus for deriving a voltage from the heart activity of a person, comprising:
an electrocardiographic electrode having:
a viscous member to be held in close contact with the skin of the person, the viscous member having front and rear viscous surfaces and a central opening, the rear surface of the viscous member fixedly securing to the skin of the person;

a reinforcement member bonded to the front surface of said viscous base member to close the opening;
an electrode member provided in the reinforcement member;
first magnetic means fixedly attached to the electrode member; and wherein the electrocardiographic electrode is adaptable to a lead connector having:
a water-proof suction member;
a lead securement member having a portion extending through the suction member, connected to a lead, second magnetic means fixedly attached to the securement member at the portion extending through the suction member;
wherein the lead connector is nondetachably fixed to the electrocardiographic electrode by bonding the inside surface of the suction member to the front surface of the viscous member; and wherein the first and second magnetic means are in abutment to provide an electrical path for the voltage to traverse from the person to an equipment for measuring the voltage;
whereby the apparatus is fixedly secured to the skin of the person.
CA000531813A 1987-03-12 1987-03-12 Electrocardiographic electrode Expired - Fee Related CA1315349C (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000531813A CA1315349C (en) 1987-03-12 1987-03-12 Electrocardiographic electrode

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000531813A CA1315349C (en) 1987-03-12 1987-03-12 Electrocardiographic electrode

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1315349C true CA1315349C (en) 1993-03-30

Family

ID=4135157

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000531813A Expired - Fee Related CA1315349C (en) 1987-03-12 1987-03-12 Electrocardiographic electrode

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1315349C (en)

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