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A novel index for trending sepsis and inflammatory response using processed EEG and Heart Rate Variability
Jaume Millán I Ichon1,2, Montserrat Vallverdú-Ferrer3, Erik Weber Jensen4,5
1Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (IRIS), School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona (ETSEIB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), CIBER of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Barcelona, Spain. jaume.millan.i@upc.edu.
A new Trend of Sepsis and Inflammation (TSI) index combines heart rate variability (HRV) and electroencephalogram (EEG) data to detect systemic inflammation. The TSI effectively differentiates between baseline, post-surgical inflammation, and sepsis states.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Critical Care Medicine
- Physiology
Background:
- Early detection of systemic inflammation and sepsis is crucial for patient outcomes.
- Heart rate variability (HRV) is a potential non-invasive marker but lacks specificity under anesthesia.
- Anesthesia and sedation can suppress autonomic responses, complicating inflammation monitoring.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate the Trend of Sepsis and Inflammation (TSI) index.
- To develop a novel index combining HRV and electroencephalogram (EEG) parameters.
- To improve the specificity of non-invasive inflammation monitoring, especially under anesthesia.
Main Methods:
- A post-hoc observational analysis of surgical and septic ICU patients.
- Continuous EEG and ECG recordings were analyzed using a multimodal system.
- An Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System integrated HRV and EEG-derived Brain Activity Index to compute TSI.
Main Results:
- TSI values showed a significant progressive increase from baseline (2.29) to post-surgery (24.68) and sepsis (65.59) (p < 0.0001).
- The TSI demonstrated strong discriminative ability (Pk = 93.58%) and high overall concordance (92.6%).
- Physiological consistency was supported by HRV spectrograms and EEG-compensated analyses.
Conclusions:
- The TSI effectively distinguishes between baseline, post-surgical inflammatory, and septic states.
- This index offers a continuous, non-invasive measure of inflammatory burden, compensating for anesthesia-induced autonomic suppression.
- The TSI shows potential for perioperative and critical care settings, warranting further validation.
