Telemedicine, Part II

Read Part I

Telehealth Monitoring Wristwatches

The first reported person to actually wear a watch on the wrist was the French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). With a piece of string, he attached his pocket watch to his wrist. In the late 1800s, the wrist watch was officially invented by the Swiss watch maker, Patek Phillippe. The first wristwatch for men was designed by Louis Cartier in the early 1900s. Ranging in price from less than $30 to $400 and more, a variety of real heart rate monitors are available in the market. Suunto, for example, can calculate metrics like oxygen consumption, respiratory rate and training effect. On the lower end, the Omron HR-100C is easy to use and doesn't have a lot of fancy functions to confuse novices, measuring heart rate with a chest strap and… transmitting data to the wrist-mounted display. If you want more features than the basics, reviewers recommend the Polar F11 heart rate monitor. The Garmin 305 (image on the right) has an integrated GPS antenna, so unlike most heart rate monitors, it can tell how far and how fast you're going.

An iPhone Blood Pressure WebApp by Bit&Becker will monitor your blood pressure over several periods of time. It will also show your Max/Min and Average Systolic, Diastolic Bloodpressure, as well as your Pulse. You can export your data in CSV (Excel) Format. Current version of Blood pressure monitoring devices has now support for extreme high and low blood pressure values. And no more google ads, to keep your blood pressure low.

Animas Corporation, which is now a Johnson & Johnson company, is no longer
longer selling the current model GlucoWatch G2 Biographer System, shown on the right. Cygnus Inc. (Redwood City, California) is already working on second and third generation products that will overcome some of limitations of this watch which include skin irritation and calibration, meaning additional finger-stick tests redone about 20% of the time.

TeleMedIS System combining the TeleMed HC Platform developed by Karolinska and Telehealth Monitoring Wristwatch (TMW) developed by Tadiran LifeCare, connected over the Wireless Network (provided by TeliaSonera Sweden), is able to measure user vital signs by using integrated biosensors. This includes 1-lead ECG, Blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2), Pulse (heart rate)

Victorian researchers have developed a wristwatch that continuously monitors the health status of people with Parkinson’s disease to help doctors manage their treatment, Victorian Minister for Innovation Gavin Jennings said in May 19th press release. The wristwatch, which is still at the prototype stage, was introduced onto the world market by Mr Jennings at BIO2009 in Atlanta, USA.

Dreamate Sleep Inducer is a non-invasive sleeping aid wristband. This watch-sized device on a strap uses acupressure techniques to “retune the biological clock and train your body to relax and sleep by massaging key acupoints on your inner wrist". The Taiwanese gadget provides a double-frequency micro-massage (via a vibration motor) to specific pulse points—termed the “Sleeping Golden Triangle” points in traditional Chinese medicine. The company says it helps in relieving stress, inducing sleep and is especially beneficial for people suffering from jet lag.

Health equipment manufacturers such as Omron Healthcare Co Ltd, Nipro Corp, and Matsushita Electric Works Ltd, all of Japan, have been announcing terminals to measure physical activity. These "life recorders" are specifically designed to make it possible to accurately measure the amount of physical activity, pulse, skin temperature and motion. They also measure external factors such as atmospheric pressure.

If you wear the GoWear fit armband during the course of your day, then log onto your personalized GoWear fit online activity manager, you’ll get information about the calories you’ve burned, plus a calorie consumption calculator and tips for how to best reach your fitness and lifestyle goals. GoWear fit also measures sleep duration and efficiency – so that you can begin to understand the influence your bedtime has on your overall health
And if you do not want the world to know what exactly you are measuring, consider design suggested by Hironao Tsuboi for an LED watch. It looks like just a metal band. Push a button, and you get the time or what you'd like to get. Don't push the button: no numbers, no curves, no pie charts. Very simple.

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See also Devices To Keep you Healthy

Aurametrix is working on tools to help you evaluate your personal health risks and benefits and make the right choices.

Telemedicine 2.0, part 1

by Aurametrix

The term telemedicine was coined in the 1970s by Thomas Bird. The origins of this technology date back to smoke signals in ancient times. Earliest electroni devices included STARPAHC - a van staffed by two paramedics with a variety of medical instruments including electrocardiograph and x-ray. ATS-1, the first Applied Technology Satellite was in use in 1971-1975 to provide rural health care in Alaska. Minimal television system for remote diagnosis was developed in early 70s. Applications of telemedicine in early 2000s included remote consultation and diagnosis, specialty clinical care (anesthesia, dermatology, dentistry, cardiology, psychiatry, radiology, critical care, oncology, etc), patient education, home monitoring, and continuing education.
The health care cost is rising each year, it's already 16%-17% of the GDP. Wide utilization of wireless communications can reduce the health care cost by billions of dollars on an annual basis. Here are some examples of new developments.
Cisco HealthPresence combines state-of-the-art video, audio, and medical information to create an environment similar to what most people experience when they visit their doctor or health specialist. First Cisco HealthPresence booth was installed in January 2008.

Another California company, CardioNet provides the next-generation ambulatory cardiac monitoring service with beat-to-beat, real time analysis, automatic arrhythmia detection and wireless ECG transmission.

A startup in Redwood city, CA, works on
ingestible technology: microchip-enabled medications that provide patients with valuable information to customize their therapy. Proteus’s implantable ChipSkin™ technology adds tiny active electronics to devices that use electrical energy to deliver therapy inside the body. Similar technologies are being proposed (like a medication reminder watch by a UCLA student and the MedTracker device) or developed.

If you experience unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms, such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, bleeding, anemia or GERD, you may be tested by capsule endoscopy with PillCam® family of products from Given Imaging. Vitamin-sized capsules with miniature video cameras inside will send pictures of your GI tract to a computer for your doctor to review. For GERD diagnosis, BRAVO pH monitoring system could be most useful.
Swallowable devices such Radio pill tocan monitor players temperature . Researchers are planning larger volunteer testing events this year.

This gadget is displaying your identification card, if you need it, , but is also a Bluetooth headset device and has the features of other wireless headsets. With up to 40 hours of talk time on a full charge, the Smart Badge by Iqua is easy to carry and use, is stylish and smart. Its standby time is up to 600 hours, it vibrates to alert incoming calls silently during meetings and allows 3-way conference calls.
It also has LED lights displaying Bluetooth connection, call status, and low battery indication. With supporting cell phones, this badge also allows for voice activated dialing. For full features and specification, you may find the Pdf of the product brochure here.

To be continued.

Aurametrix is working on tools to help you evaluate your personal health risks and benefits and make the right choices.