EMS-Breathz: Development of an Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)-Guided Rhythmic Breathing System to Actively Regulate Breathing Patterns During Radiotherapy

TL;DR

EMS-Breathz is a system that uses electrical muscle stimulation to guide rhythmic breathing during radiotherapy, helping to stabilize breathing patterns and reduce tumor motion.

Contribution

The novel contribution is the development of an EMS-guided system to actively regulate breathing patterns during radiotherapy.

Findings

EMS-Breathz prototype functioned as designed in technical testing.

The system enables repeatable respiratory cycles with minimal voluntary effort.

It may improve respiratory gating accuracy and reduce tumor motion uncertainty.

Abstract

We developed EMS-Breathz, an electrical muscle stimulation (EMS)-guided rhythmic breathing system that regulates the breathing pattern during radiotherapy by inducing abdominal muscle contractions through rhythmic electrical stimulation. EMS-Breathz promotes exhalation during stimulation and passive inhalation during nonstimulation, thereby enabling repeatable respiratory cycles with minimal voluntary effort. The prototype functioned as designed in technical testing, demonstrating the feasibility of external respiratory modulation. By stabilizing breathing, this approach may reduce tumor motion uncertainty, improve respiratory gating accuracy, and help regulate patient breathing patterns. This technical report summarizes the system design, operation, and potential clinical applications.

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