There was an article about high-tech scales in the this mornings paper that caught my eye. BIA is used to measure body-fat and is similar to ICG. There's a good explanation of how these devices work here.
One of the critical factors for these measurements is the number of electrodes (2 or 4) and their placement. The impedance model used for the parameter calculations (TBW, FFM, etc.) is highly dependent on the electrode configuration. Reliability and reproducibility have improved over the years which has made these types of devices commercially viable in the consumer market.
There is also active research in multi-frequency BIA (MF-BIA) in order to "accurately monitor acute and chronic changes in hydration during various diseases and their clinical management" (see ref). A commercial MF-BIA product is available from Xitron that uses Bioimpedance Spectroscopy (BIS) for estimating intra and extracellular water (ICW and ECW). These measures can be particularly useful during dialysis treatment.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Thanks for informative article
Thought I would let you know that our internationally ever popular Bodystat QuadScan 4000 bioelectrical impedance analyzer is also a multi-frequency device to estimate ECW and ICW values, etc.
Also, using the measured raw data values only, without the use of regression equations that produce only estimated values, we are able to determine Phase Angle and our innovative Illness Marker – we don’t even need the weight of the subject and is independent of age or population group. Refer to our very informative web page: http://www.bodystat.com
Regards,
Sakkie Meeuwsen
President
Bodystat Ltd – established since 1990.
British Isles
Do you know if any BIA devices have electronic intefaces so that an appliance, such as Mirth, could be ytlized to convert patient BIA data and transmit using a standard (not sure if HL7 applies?) to be automatically imported into a patient EMR?
@Bernie: You’ll have to contact the BIA manufacturer directly to see what sort of electronic records capability they have (if any). I know from my ICG experience that you will have to create custom HL7 “observation terms” in order to transmit this data to an EMR.
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