Point-of-Care EMG Processor for the Differential Diagnosis of Neuropathy and Myopathy

As most of the electrophysiological signal accusation is noninvasive, its use in disease diagnosis is widely favored. Electromyogram or EMG is an electrophysiological signal, which is the recording of the electrical activity of skeletal muscles in response to a nerve’s stimulation. This signal can be used to diagnose several neuromuscular diseases, including Neuropathy and Myopathy. Neuropathy is a disorder affecting the peripheral nerves that may undermine the motor functions resulting in muscular weakness. On the other hand, Myopathy is a condition of the muscle in which the muscle fiber loses its proper functionality and causes muscular weakness. As these two diseases have similar symptoms, it often makes the diagnosis challenging, and physicians use the EMG to manually detect the underlying cause behind the illness. This paper introduces a novel signal processing unit that can automatically differentiate between Neuropathy and Myopathy using the EMG signal. This automated system would assist in the precise diagnosis of these diseases at the point-of-care, which could be an integral part of modern eHealth system.