This will be an explorative, proof-of-principle, open, multi-center investigation. The investigation aims to investigate the safety of the PERIsign system and the ability of physicians to differentiate between healthy individuals and subjects with involuntary muscle defense as a sign of peritonitis by utilizing PERIsign data. The investigation will include a total of 20 subjects admitted to hospital for suspected appendicitis and planned for emergency surgery and 20 healthy volunteers. Both male and female subjects aged 18-70 years will be enrolled. All subjects will undergo PERIsign examinations. Subjects with suspected appendicitis will undergo 1-2 PERIsign examinations before their planned appendectomy surgery. For the healthy volunteers, there is only 1 PERIsign examination. During each examination, 4 PERIsign curves will be obtained, one from each quadrant of the abdomen. The attending physician will interpret the appearance of the PERIsign curves of all subjects, including those from the healthy volunteers. The duration of the PERIsign examination will be documented, and usability data will be gathered, including the need for sensor adjustments, subject perception of the examination, and any discomfort experienced. In addition, blinded physicians will evaluate all subjects' PERIsign curves and determine whether each subject has involuntary muscle defense as a sign of peritonitis. These blinded physicians will have access to all 4 PERIsign curves obtained during each examination, while other data will not be disclosed to them. Safety will be evaluated through analysis of reported adverse events and device deficiencies
METHODOLOGY The PERIsign system is intended to aid physicians in demonstrating involuntary muscle defense as a sign of peritonitis by assessing involuntary activity in abdominal muscles by use of sEMG sensors and induced pressure. In this investigation, all subjects will undergo examinations with the PERIsign system. For subjects with suspected appendicitis, assessments will be performed at the clinic on up to 2 occasions. An initial examination will occur when the patient is scheduled for surgery and admitted to the hospital. The following examination is optional and will occur 4-6 hours after the initial examination but before their planned surgery. Post-operative clinical assessments, patho-anatomical diagnosis and clinical end diagnosis will be collected from medical journals, 30 ±5 days after the initial examination. For the healthy volunteers, there is only 1 examination. INVESTIGATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICE The PERIsign system is a medical device designed to measure the contractions of the internus and externus oblique muscles in the abdomen by use of surface electromyography (sEMG) sensors and induced pressure to facilitate the evaluation of a patient with acute abdominal pain. The PERIsign system aims to aid physicians in demonstrating involuntary muscle defense as a sign of peritonitis, an inflammation of the peritoneum, by measuring muscle activity both at rest and in response to pressure on the abdominal wall. The PERIsign Minimal Viable Product is the first iteration of the device and will be used for the present clinical investigation. It comprises four sensor heads with connections, used together with single use sensor electrodes, that are applied to four specific locations on the patient's abdomen, and one reference electrode attached to the hand. Each sensor head has a pressure sensor on top that measures the pressure applied to the sensor, mimicking the manual palpation performed by a physician. The PERIsign system will display and record the patient's muscle activity and the pressure being applied to their abdomen. PERIsign is connected to a laptop for data collection.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
40
Patients will be examined with the new device, PERIsign
Hallands Sjukhus Halmstad
Halmstad, Sweden
Hallands Sjukhus Varberg
Varberg, Sweden
Proportion of subjects experiencing any adverse events during the examination
Evaluation of there is any adverse events during the examination of the new diagnostic device.
Time frame: 1 hour
Proportion of device deficiencies during the evaluation
Evaluation of there is any device deficiencies during the examination of the new diagnostic device.
Time frame: 1 hour
To estimate the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosing pathological muscle defense when using the PERIsign system
During the evaluation the examiner interprets the graphical curves presented by the PERIsign system to evaluate and determine if there is an involuntary muscle defense at the subjects abdominal wall. The sensitivity and specificity will be calculated.
Time frame: 1 hour
Proportion of examinations of the PERIsign system that its performed without usability issues.
The usability of the PERIsign system is tested by measuring how long the examination will take and how easy it is to use bye the examiner.
Time frame: 1 hour
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