Cardiac early warning system

The project entitled “Development of a System for Integrated Spectral Analysis of Microwave and Bioimpedance Signals in Heart Failure Diagnostics” will be carried out with the support of a grant from the Foundation for Polish Science.

Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump an adequate amount of blood, resulting in insufficient oxygen delivery to the organs or excessive blood accumulation within them. It can be caused by any disease affecting the cardiovascular system. This condition affects 65 million people worldwide and is responsible for one-third of annual deaths in Poland. As a chronic and progressive disease, heart failure represents a major challenge for an already strained healthcare system.

A diagnosis hidden in the lungs

When a physician is unable to assess a patient’s condition between scheduled visits, the risk of developing concerning symptoms increases, often leading patients to seek emergency care. In more than 40% of cases, chronic heart failure is accompanied by the pathological accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity, which may remain undetected when present in small amounts. It is precisely the lungs, located directly next to the heart, that have become one of the main areas of interest for the project’s developers.

“Currently, there is no rapid, non-invasive, and quantitative method for assessing the degree of fluid congestion in the lungs, leading to delayed diagnoses and poorer outcomes,” says Teodor Buchner, PhD, associate professor at the Faculty of Physics of the Warsaw University of Technology, a member of The Polish Cardiac Society, and the principal investigator of the project. “Our team aims to develop a measurement and analytical solution based on two complementary techniques: dielectric microwave spectroscopy and bioimpedance spectroscopy. This will enable greater measurement accuracy and make the results more robust against interference and artifacts.”

The device is intended to assist in assessing the volume of pleural effusion in the lungs, thoracic fluid overload, indicators reflecting the severity of heart failure, and pulmonary spirometry parameters.

Anatomical model of the human heart – cross-section showing the internal structure, photo by Maciej J. Mrowiński

An engineering response to a medical need

The technology being developed by the project team is a response to a real need identified by the medical community. Currently, there are no portable devices available on the market that would enable the non-invasive monitoring of patients with heart failure in hospital wards, outpatient clinics, and their own homes as part of telemedicine services.

Engineers from several laboratories at the Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Łódź will join forces to develop such a mechanism.

“We have experience in developing systems for microwave detection of pleural fluid in the lungs. We want to use these results to integrate this approach with the second method, namely bioimpedance,” says Maciej Ślot, PhD, researcher, inventor, and leader of the research team representing the Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science at the University of Łódź. “In recent years, we have focused on moving from a laboratory concept to a real measurement device. This involved, among other things, designing and fabricating a prototype microwave sensor and developing signal analysis algorithms. A key role was played by simulation analyses, which allowed us to optimize the operating parameters and geometry of the system so that it would be sensitive to small changes in fluid content within tissues. We confirmed the results in laboratory studies, where we observed a clear correlation between the signal and the presence of fluid. At the same time, we worked to ensure that the solution met the requirements for medical devices.”

“Within the project, we are focusing on integrated measurements, and the greatest challenge is to develop a device that is simple enough to operate so that it can be used by older people or medical personnel after brief training,” emphasizes Prof. Buchner. “Neither ultrasound nor X-ray meets this requirement.”

A multidimensional contribution

The laboratories of the Warsaw University of Technology’s faculties will also play a key role in the project: the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology (microwaves), the Faculty of Mechatronics (biomedical engineering and impedance), and the Faculty of Physics (electrophysiology and graphene). Their expertise is supported by patents and commercial applications of the developed techniques.

A prerequisite for joining the project was having solutions with already established and documented commercial value.

“For this reason, we could not include all the research we conduct at Warsaw University of Technology in the project, although both the analysis of the heart’s electrical stability and innovative magnetic studies of cardiac-origin currents also cover patients with heart failure,” explains Prof. Buchner. “The technology readiness level was too low, and the decisions were difficult, but they had to be made for the benefit of the project.”

The implementation and commercialization aspects of the project will be handled by the WUT Innovations Centre.

“We want to provide doctors and patients with a tool that will help identify health deterioration earlier and enable faster decisions about further treatment,” says Jakub Kaczmarski, PhD, Head of the Innovation Incubator Unit at WUT. “From the very beginning, we have focused on the practical application of this technology so that it does not remain merely a promising research outcome, but can eventually become part of everyday patient care.”

This means not only developing the technology itself, but also preparing the entire pathway to implementation: collaborating with medical partners, protecting the project’s results, engaging with the market, and building a model that will enable the team’s work to be translated from the laboratory into real clinical practice.

“The technology will be commercialized through a spin-off company in which, alongside the inventors, Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Łódź will also hold equity stakes. This in itself represents an innovative organizational model, ensuring continuity of development, efficient management of intellectual property rights, and favorable conditions for further implementation efforts,” emphasizes Jakub Kaczmarski, PhD.

“A key element will be building mutual trust between the innovation centres of both institutions,” adds Prof. Buchner. “The Centre for Technology Transfer at the University of Łódź has an extensive portfolio of patents and patent applications, including the key invention for the project developed by Maciej Ślot, PhD (ENG), while Warsaw University of Technology's strength lies in its experience in establishing and supporting spin-off companies.” “The Foundation for Polish Science has proposed an interesting collaboration framework in the form of a Commercialization Team. We now have a well-defined process that will enable us to develop a joint approach to the commercialization of the project.”

The project activities will be carried out over a three-year period.

The project ”Development of a System for Integrated Spectral Analysis of Microwave and Bioimpedance Signals in Heart Failure Diagnostics” is funded by the Foundation for Polish Science under the TEAM NET programme, financed through the European Funds for a Modern Economy Programme. Funding amount: PLN 8,286,408.65

The project is funded by the Foundation for Polish Science under the European Funds for a Modern Economy Programme.