Visualisation of limb movements by accelerometers in sedated patients

After institutional approval and patient consent, we connected four wireless 3D accelerometric AX3 sensors (Axivity Ltd., Newcastle, UK) to the limbs of 10 post-cardiac surgery patients in the cardiothoracic ICU while still in general anaesthesia. [...]all data were truncated to 10 min starting at least 2 min before the first detectable movement. SEE PDF] In all patients, this approach detected a change from no limb movements to various degrees of movement in one or several limbs, as shown in Fig. 2. Since the time from de-prescription until wake-up varies substantially between individuals, we highlighted the 10 min with most movements from each patient, including at least a 2-min start period of baseline no movement.