Apparatus and method for determining physiologic perturbations of a patient

1. A method comprising:

acquiring a video sequence, including a plurality of video frames, of an eye of a patient;

selecting and assigning weights to at least one static eye-related parameter and at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of a plurality of eye-related parameters, including a baseline pupil size, a maximum change in size of a pupil, an average velocity of constriction of the pupil, a maximum velocity of constriction of the pupil, latency of constriction of the pupil, and a velocity of re-dilation of the pupil, based on which physiologic perturbation of a patient, of a plurality of selectable physiologic perturbations, is selected to be determined; and

determining, using processing circuitry, whether the patient has the selected physiologic perturbation based on the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter and the weights assigned to the at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

localizing, in a first frame among the plurality of video frames, a center of the pupil and two points on a boundary of the pupil and an iris of the patient;

generating, using the processing circuitry, a mask image corresponding to an expected location of the iris based on said localizing, said mask image include a plurality of pixels; and determining the at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter based on the generated mask image.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, using the processing circuitry, an intracranial pressure to be less than 20 mmHg when the maximum change in the size of the pupil is determined to be greater than or equal to 50%.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, using the processing circuitry, an intracranial pressure to be greater than 20 mmHg when the maximum change in the size of the pupil is determined to be less than or equal to 10%.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, using the processing circuitry, a midline shift when the maximum change in the size of the pupil is determined to be less than or equal to 10%.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, using the processing circuitry, an intracranial pressure to be greater than 20 mmHg when the average velocity of constriction of the pupil is less than 0.6 mm/sec.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring a first video sequence of the eye of the patient while the patient is in a supine position;

determining, using the processing circuitry and based on the first video sequence, a first version of the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of the plurality of eye-related parameters;

acquiring a second video sequence of the eye of the patient while the patient is in an upright position;

determining, using the processing circuitry and based on the second video sequence, a second version of the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of the plurality of eye-related parameters; and

determining, using the processing circuitry, whether the patient has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) based on a comparison of the first version and the second version of the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of the plurality of eye-related parameters.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second video sequence is acquired a predetermined amount of time after the patient gets to the upright position from the supine position.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining, using the processing circuitry, that the patient has POTS when the patient's maximum pupil diameter measured in the supine position is 2.5% greater than the patient's maximum pupil diameter measured in the upright position; or

determining, using the processing circuitry, that the patient has POTS when the patient's minimum pupil diameter measured in the supine position is 6.7% greater than the patient's minimum pupil diameter measured in the upright position.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining, using the processing circuitry, that the patient has POTS when the patient's first change in size of the pupil measured in the supine position is 8.5% less than the patient's second change in size of the pupil measured in the upright position; or

determining, using the processing circuitry, that the patient has POTS when the patient's first average velocity of constriction of the pupil measured in the supine position is 7.3% less than the patient's second average velocity of constriction of the pupil measured in the upright position.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the physiologic perturbation includes one of drug usage or a medical condition.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, using the processing circuitry, a mask image from a first frame among the plurality of video frames, the mask image including a plurality of pixels corresponding to the pupil of the eye of the patient;

replacing, using the processing circuitry, bright pixels from among the plurality of pixels with dark pixels to generate an updated mask image; and

determining, using the processing circuitry and based on the updated mask image, the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of the plurality of eye-related parameters.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting and assigning weights to all eye-related parameters of the plurality of eye-related parameters including the baseline pupil size, the maximum change in size of the pupil, the average velocity of constriction of the pupil, the maximum velocity of constriction of the pupil, latency of constriction of the pupil, and the velocity of re-dilation of the pupil based on another physiologic perturbation of the patient to be determined; and

determining whether the patient has the another physiologic perturbation based on the selected all eye-related parameters and the weights assigned to the all eye-related parameters.

14. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to:

acquire a video sequence, including a plurality of video frames, of an eye of a patient;

select and assign weights to at least one static eye-related parameter and at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of a plurality of eye-related parameters, including a baseline pupil size, a maximum change in size of a pupil, an average velocity of constriction of the pupil, a maximum velocity of constriction of the pupil, latency of constriction of the pupil, and a velocity of re-dilation of the pupil, based on which physiologic perturbation of a patient, of a plurality of selectable physiologic perturbations, is selected to be determined; and

determine whether the patient has the selected physiologic perturbation based on the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter and the weights assigned to the at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine an intracranial pressure to be less than 20 mmHg when the maximum change in the size of the pupil is determined to be greater than or equal to 50%.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine an intracranial pressure to be greater than 20 mmHg when the maximum change in the size of the pupil is determined to be less than or equal to 10%.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine a midline shift when the maximum change in the size of the pupil is determined to be less than or equal to 10%.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine an intracranial pressure to be greater than 20 mmHg when the average velocity of constriction of the pupil is less than 0.6 mm/sec.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

acquire a first video sequence of the eye of the patient while the patient is in a supine position;

determine, based on the first video sequence, a first version of the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of the plurality of eye-related parameters;

acquire a second video sequence of the eye of the patient while the patient is in an upright position;

determine, based on the second video sequence, a second version of the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of the plurality of eye-related parameters; and

determine whether the patient has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) based on a comparison of the first version and the second version of the selected at least one static eye-related parameter and the at least one dynamic eye-related parameter of the plurality of eye-related parameters.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the second video sequence is acquired a predetermined amount of time after the patient gets to the upright position from the supine position.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine that the patient has POTS when the patient's maximum pupil diameter measured in the supine position is 2.5% greater than the patient's maximum pupil diameter measured in the upright position; or

determine that the patient has POTS when the patient's minimum pupil diameter measured in the supine position is 6.7% greater than the patient's minimum pupil diameter measured in the upright position.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine that the patient has POTS when the patient's first change in size of the pupil measured in the supine position is 8.5% less than the patient's second change in size of the pupil measured in the upright position; or

determine that the patient has POTS when the patient's first average velocity of constriction of the pupil measured in the supine position is 7.3% less than the patient's second average velocity of constriction of the pupil measured in the upright position.

23. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the physiologic perturbation includes one of drug usage or a medical condition.