Parameter Estimation of Human Nerve C-Fibers using Matched Filtering and Multiple Hypothesis Tracking

Björn Hammarberg (Uppsala University),
Clemens Forster (University of Erlangen) and
Erik Torebjörk (Uppsala University)

IEEE Transactions Biomedical Engineering, vol. 49, pp- 329-336, April 2002.   © 2002 IEEE

Abstract:

We describe how multiple-target tracking may be used to estimate conduction velocity changes and recovery constants of human nerve C-fibers. These parameters discriminate different types of C-fibers and pursuing this may promote new insights into differential properties of nerve fiber membranes. Action potentials (APs) were recorded from C-fibers in the peroneal nerve of awake human subjects.

The APs were detected by a matched filter constituting a maximum-likelihood constant false-alarm rate detector.

Using the multiple-hypothesis tracking method and Kalman filtering, the detected AN (targets) in each trace (scan) were associated to individual nerve fibers (tracks) by their typical conduction latencies in response to electrical stimulation. The measurements were one-dimensional (range only) and the APs were spaced in time with intersecting trajectories. In general, the AP amplitude of each C-fiber differed for different fibers.

Amplitude estimation was therefore incorporated into the tracking algorithm to improve the performance. The target trajectory was modeled as an exponential decay with three unknowns. These parameters were estimated iteratively by applying the simplex method on the parameters that enter nonlinearly and the least squares method on the parameters that enter linearly.

Related publications:

PhD Thesis by Björn Hammarberg.

Earlier and longer report version of the paper.

Master thesis on the implementation of the detection and discrimination algorithms.

SPIE Conference paper on detection and discrimination of action potentials.

Source:

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