Tech is becoming pervasive in almost every aspect of our lives and in some areas it’s not so welcome. Medicine, however, benefits hugely and inevitably, the biggest winners are the patients. Here is a quick look the latest gadgets, either fresh off the shelf, in production, or in development.
6. Can your Smart Watch do this?
Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the Stanford School of Medicine have developed a smartwatch that uses electrochemical analysis to track levels of a drug in the body by analyzing a patient’s sweat.
The watch works by stimulating sweat glands in the underlying skin through an electric current. The device can then analyze the sweat and can identify the electrochemical signature of specific drugs using a voltammetric sensing interface. The result is real-time continuous measurement of drug levels.
“This technology is a game-changer and a significant step forward for realizing personalized medicine,” said Ronald W. Davis, aresearcher involved in the study.
“Emerging pharmacogenomic solutions, which allow us to select drugs based on the genetic makeup of individuals, have already shown to be useful in improving the efficacy of treatments. So, in combination with our wearable solution, which helps us to optimize the drug dosages for each individual, we can now truly personalize our approaches to pharmacotherapy.”
You can read more about the research behind the project here. Noninvasive wearable electroactive pharmaceutical monitoring for personalized therapeutics
5. Meet Thinklabs One. a Covid friendly Stethoscope
We’re not too sure about this one. Nothing says, “Trust me, I’m a Doctor” quite like a stethoscope dangling around your neck. It is however pandemic season and given that, this redesign of the classic stethoscope may just take off. It also kicks some serious butt when it comes to amplification and the Thinklabs One is a lot more than just a stethoscope.
One of the devices patients immediately associate with check-ups is the stethoscope – a tool not only for assessment, but for bringing a sense of connection between doctors and patients. Thinklabs Medical has created leading electronic stethoscope technology, which the company believes has helped mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Clive Smith, the CEO and Founder of the company, was the inventor behind designing the electronic stethoscope: Thinklabs One, the company claims, is the smallest and most powerful stethoscope in the healthcare industry with over 100X amplification, compared to a typical acoustic stethoscope. Since it has a standard headphone jack, small off-the shelf Bluetooth transmitters can be used to connect to it and beam auscultation sounds from the patient to the doctor’s headphones.
During the ongoing pandemic, the two can stay at a distance from each other while the physician guides the patient where to position the puck-like stethoscope on the body, all while wearing headphones and listening to the results. The product is obviously perfect for telemedcine and pandemic scenarios and even hooks into your smartphone via an app. Brilliant.
In terms of specifications, this high end piece of simplified tech really delivers.
- Amplification: More than 100x
- Audio Filters: 5 bandpass filters
- Display: Volume, filter, battery LED scale
- Output signal level: Low impedance headphone driver, 3V p-p
- Power input: 5V DC (USB charger compatible)
- Power source: Internal lithium ion cell
- Battery Capacity: > 120 patient exams per charge (2 minutes per patient)
- Transducer: Thinklabs’ patented electromagnetic diaphragm
- Connector: 4-conductor 3.5 mm jack
- Dimensions: 46mm x 28mm
- Weight: 50 g
This post is too short to do the Thinklabs One justice and we highly recommend stopping off at the Thinklabs site to learn more or to order the stethoscope. It is one of the few items in this list that is already commercially available.
4. With Baby? An at home Ultrasound Device for moms
If you’re an Obgyn this one’s for you! PulseNmore At-Home Tele-Ultrasound for Pregnant Women has just launched and we love it. How are you not going to spend the entire day on the couch at home taking ultrasound selfies? Obviously, there are a huge range of medicla benefits to the product as well.
A new device has just been unveiled by PulseNmore, an Israeli firm, that allows patients to perform ultrasound exams themselves and share the results immediately with their sonographers or physicians.
The device is a dock for a smartphone, the bottom being the ultrasound transducer. An app on the smartphone provides training and guidance to the patient so that a scan is performed to achieve high-quality results. Captured images are then shared with the patient’s clinical team and those can be used to guide further decisions.
The people behind PulseNmore hope that the new tele-ultrasound will help clinicians to provide optimal care for their patients while reducing the chance of viral transmission. Israel’s largest HMO, Clalit Health Services, which has over 4 million members, has signed a contract to provide tens of thousands of PulseNmore devices to pregnant women under its management.
To see just how cool this product is, watch the video below.
“At home tele-ultrasound scanning is a major leap forward in digital medicine and prenatal health,” added Dr. Elazar Sonnenschein, Founder and CEO of PulseNmore. “We have successfully miniaturized the traditional ultrasound system to create a solution that is both affordable and accessible for expectant families. According to Clalit, pregnant women pay “false” visits to the emergency room more than twice on average with concerns about their baby’s well-being. Our solution provides vital information to healthcare providers to determine if a baby is healthy, helping expectant mothers have peace of mind at home and avoid unnecessary visits to the ER.”
It doesn’t seem as though the product is commercially available yet outside of Israel, but here’s the link to the PulseNmore website that offers email for inquiries.
3. Tron 2.0. Never mind wearing tech, now we can embed it on the skin.
Okay, so you cant buy this to use at home, not yet anyway, but if you don’t think this is awesome, then you probably shouldn’t be reading this article. Drawing Biomedical Electronics directly onto skin is rapidly becoming a reality and will be lifesaving for some patients.
A team of researchers at the University of Houston has developed a way to simply write electronic circuits, including different kinds of body sensors, directly onto the skin. Using this approach, the scientists have created fully functional sensing systems that can measure, with great accuracy and few artifacts, things such as skin hydration, electrophysiological signals, and body temperature.
Other sensors still need to be developed using this technique, but once they’re designed there should simply be a template that the user can follow to generate new ones.
The data obtained using the new sensors seem to be almost completely unaffected by movement, potentially allowing, for the first time, the gathering of highly accurate biomedical data when individuals are performing strenuous physical activities.
One more potential use of this technology is on and around wounds. Running electricity through the inks helps to speed up healing, something the University of Houston researchers have already demonstrated in experiments. Color us impressed.
Follow the progress of this amazing team via the University of Houston website
2. Nothing says you’ve arrived quite like own portable CT Scanner
Wheel this bad boy into a patients room to really make an impression. Siemens’ Somatom On.site portable CT head Scanner has just been FDA cleared.The device can be easily brought directly into patient rooms thanks to its powered wheels and an on-board battery. It evens features inbuilt cameras for parking and hallway navigation!
Normally, patients have to be moved to the CT scanner, wherever it may be in the hospital. With the SOMATOM On.site, patients that need head scans do not have to be unnecessarily disturbed, reducing the potential for injury and further aggravation of a condition during transport. Moreover, since only one person is required to move the new CT scanner from room to room, fewer clinical staff are tied up than when moving a bedridden patient.
On the front of the scanner there’s a built-in camera that lets the person moving it see what’s ahead, helping to avoid people and objects on the way.
Once ready for scanning, the headboard under the patient can be removed and the head positioned inside the scanner. A head holder and shoulder board on the scanner assist in getting the proper alignment for scanning. No cables or tubes that are attached to the patient need be removed for a successful scan.
After the exam, scans are automatically passed to the hospital’s radiological image database and a radiologist can review them right away.
“The SOMATOM On.site transforms the delivery of care for critically ill patients who require a CT head scan,” said Douglas Ryan, VP of Computed Tomography at Siemens Healthineers North America, in the announcement. “The system delivers reliable and consistent image quality demanded by healthcare professionals in the ICU, neurology, and radiology departments. Additionally, bedside imaging helps to reduce patient transports, thereby reducing the risk of infection while improving workforce efficiency.”
Got to have one? You can order it right here from Siemens. SOMATOM On.site
1. If you’re going Mask up, this is how you do it!
They’re annoying, butt ugly, uncomfortable, itchy, sweaty and did we mention ugly? If you’re tired of relying on your eyes to attract a date in public, there is now finally hope. Leaf has come to our rescue with a stylish new range of N99 Masks that are not only transparent, they’re also so cool you wont want to take them off.
Leaf – Self-Sterilizing, Transparent N99+ Mask; face unlocks smartphones and so much more.This mask is our number 1 choice for new tech. It shows how a combination of tech, design and great marketing can add value and we absolutely love it.
From a medical point of view, if you’re engaged with Covid patients, then Leaf is the obvious choice, without a doubt, in terms of the protection it offers. They don’t just make the mask Leaf has also got you covered in terms of sterilizing your goodies, from your laptop to your cell phone, using the Leaf Dock shown below.
Leaf’s shell is made of optical grade, soft, fire-retardant, Reusable, self-defogging and UV proof Silicone. LEAF comes in different transparent, translucent and solid colors with 3 variants HEPA, UV and PRO. LEAF-HEPA has the patent pending signature “Leaf” design coupled with U-Series HEPA-filtration, known as the Gold standard of HEPA filtration as small as 0.3 Micron (with 99.9997% Filtration)
LEAF-UV is high performance contained UV-C sterilization built into the rechargeable filter housing destroying pathogens at DNA level at “light” speed and Active-Carbon filtration to eliminate odors & organic substances. With disposable masks raising an impending threat to nature, active sterilization makes the filters to last for up-to a month.
LEAF-PRO adds active ventilation & air quality sensing. LEAF-PRO actively senses, user’s metabolism, particle count on included Air-Manager, Smartphone app, which automatically commands the Sterilization and Ventilation system. Deploying all that cutting-edge tech allows the LEAF PRO to deliver a paramount safe breathing experience. Indeed,the private jet of Face masks
UPDDATE: 19 Dec, 2020. Leaf has now achieved FDA approval and the masks are available to order. Follow the link below. Medika does not profit from or refer readers for financial remuneration.
To learn more about Leaf or to order visit their website. www.leaf.healthcare.
