Gauging Active Modalities of Error Detection and Signaling Obtained by Neural Interfaces in the Cathlab: The GAME-ON Study
Gauging Active Modalities of Error Detection and Signaling Obtained by Neural Interfaces in the Cathlab: The GAME-ON Study
Improvement of patients' care and outcome is largely based on development and validation of drugs and technologies, especially in rapidly evolving fields as Interventional Cardiology. In fact, even though the optimal efficiency of a cathlab can be influenced by Interventional Cardiologist's mental workload, stress' accumulation and performance, little if any attention is paid to the monitoring and optimization of his/her mental status. Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based neural-interfaces are able to estimate workload, fatigue and the degree of sleepiness through spectral analysis techniques. In particular, the amplitude of alpha waves is a widely validated indicator of mental engagement's level.
Developing a low cost and highly feasible device to monitor and analyze operator's mental engagement level and performance could be extremely appealing, especially considering both the lack of data in literature for interventional disciplines and the recent technology developments.
The investigators will prospectively record and analyze Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals from 5 interventional cardiologists and 2 fellows in training in all consecutive procedures at Ferrara University Hospital. Considering the hypothesis of independence of the working shifts, given the heterogeneity of their structure in terms of procedures' number and type and their distance in time, it is then possible to assume that the same operator's psycho-physical state diverges between two different acquisition days. Muse S (InteraXon; Canada), a minimally invasive device paired via Bluetooth to a dedicated app, is used to record EEG signals. Neurometrics will be acquired during Alpha Attenuation Protocols (AAP), a sensitive test to quantify sleepiness which involves measuring alpha power during 2 cycle of eye opening/closing protocol, for a total amount of 4 minutes. AAP will be recorded at the beginning of the shift, before and after each procedure performed and allow to extrapolate waves' power measures obtained during resting condition (AA Coefficient-eyes open (AAC-eo), AAC-eyes closed (AAC-ec) and AAC-mean), related to fatigue, and AAC-ec/AAC-eo (AAC-ratio), related to sleepiness. In addition, alpha-prevalence (AP) during on-task will be measured. Alpha prevalence is an estimate of alpha-power. Investigators will also measure several validated psychometric questionnaires: Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), Sleep Quality Scale (SQS) and Profile of Mood States-Fatigue subscale (POMS-F). Heart rate variability (HRV) during tasks, related to psycho-physical stress, is assessed through the square root of the mean of the sum of squares of differences between adjacent normal R-R (rMSSD).
The Game-on project aims to describe workload, mental fatigue and sleepiness through variation of psychometric and neurometric measurements during a work shift with the intent of establishing determinants of error and lengthening of procedural times.
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