Interpretation of approximate entropy: analysis of intracranial pressure approximate entropy during acute intracranial hypertension

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering Vol. 52; no. 10; pp. 1671 - 1680
• Main Authors: Hornero, R., Aboy, M., Abasolo, D., McNames, J., Goldstein, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.10.2005; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Algorithms; Approximate entropy; Artificial Intelligence; Biomedical measurements; Biomedical signal processing; Brain injuries; Brain Injuries - complications; Brain Injuries - diagnosis; Brain Injuries - physiopathology; Child; Child, Preschool; complex analysis; Computer Simulation; Cranial pressure; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted - methods; Entropy; Female; Humans; Hypertension; intracranial hypertension; Intracranial Hypertension - complications; Intracranial Hypertension - etiology; Intracranial Hypertension - physiopathology; Intracranial Pressure; intracranial pressure irregularity; Laboratories; Male; Models, Biological; Probability; Reproducibility of Results; sample entropy; Sensitivity and Specificity; Signal analysis; Time series analysis; traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2005.855722

We studied changes in intracranial pressure (ICP) complexity, estimated by the approximate entropy (ApEn) of the ICP signal, as subjects progressed from a state of normal ICP (<20--25 mmHg) to acutely elevated ICP (an ICP "spike" defined as ICP >25 mmHg for /spl les/ 5 min). We hypothesized that the measures of intracranial pressure (ICP) complexity and irregularity would decrease during acute elevations in ICP. To test this hypothesis we studied ICP spikes in pediatric subjects with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). We conclude that decreased complexity of ICP coincides with episodes of intracranial hypertension (ICH) in TBI. This suggests that the complex regulatory mechanisms that govern intracranial pressure are disrupted during acute rises in ICP. Furthermore, we carried out a series of experiments where ApEn was used to analyze synthetic signals of different characteristics with the objective of gaining a better understanding of ApEn itself, especially its interpretation in biomedical signal analysis.