1. A Wristwatch that Monitors Blood Pressure
A device that tracks vital signs around the clock will help patients better control their blood pressure.
This wireless monitor from Healthstats detects blood pressure by detecting the shape of a pressure wave as blood flows through an artery. Now a new wireless monitor from Hewlett-Packard and a Singapore company called Healthstats aims to make it much easier for patients and doctors to monitor blood pressure. The device, which has the size and look of a wristwatch, can monitor pressure continuously—which provides a much more accurate picture than infrequent readings in the doctor's office. Until now, the only way to do such continuous monitoring has been with a cumbersome inflatable cuff for the arm or wrist.
2. Surgery Dramatically Lowers Blood Pressure
New treatment may be a way to control hypertension when drugs don't work.
Pressure drop: A device developed by a company called Ardian was used to destroy nerves in patients’ renal arteries, reducing their blood pressure by up to 30 percent.
3. Personal Medical Monitoring
Keeping tabs on your vitals with Microsoft HealthVault.
Your weight, wirelessly: This scale and body-composition monitor from Tanita is one of a number of devices that is compatible with Microsoft HealthVault, an online database for personal health records. Weight measurements from the scale are sent to the computer via Bluetooth, and then automatically uploaded into the user’s HealthVault record.
4. Quantifying Your Sleep
Sweet dream: Devices such as the Zeo, a headband with a built-in sensor worn during sleep (top), are allowing consumers to track a growing number of personal and health parameters. A base station (bottom) wirelessly receives the sleep data and displays it for the user.
5. Smart Phones Help Manage Chronic Illness
6. Wireless Technology Could Slash Health-Care Costs
Sensing and monitoring devices are crucial for keeping long-term hospital expenses down.Wireless stickies: An adhesive patch with a tiny needle, made by DexCom (top), sticks to a diabetic patient's abdomen to monitor glucose levels. Data is uploaded to a handheld receiver. Startup Proteus Biomedical is seeking FDA approval for a kit (bottom) that includes a wireless patch as well as pills containing microchips that detect when meds are taken. After doing their job, the grain-of-sand-sized chips are passed from the body.
7. Car Warns When Your Blood Sugar Is Low
Ford uses wireless technology to connect a car's dashboard to medical devices and health-monitoring apps.
Health drive: Ford’s new platform links a health-tracking app to a car’s computer. Your car may soon be able to warn you if your blood sugar dips, alert you to high pollen counts, and remind you to take your medication. Ford demonstrated the new in-car technology—currently a research project
8. Smart-Phone App Tracks Heart Rate
A new smart-phone app can take your pulse and measure your breathing simply by detecting subtle changes in skin color. All you need to do is hold an index finger over a smart phone's video camera for a few minutes.
9. Remote Monitoring of the Heart
Wearable, wireless technology detects early signs of heart failure.
Sensor patch
A 15-centimeter wireless sensor, recently approved by the FDA, holds the promise of reducing hospitalizations by allowing automated early detection of heart failure. The noninvasive device, which costs a few hundred dollars and adheres to a patient's chest, monitors indicators of heart health--including heart and respiration rates, levels of patient activity, and even the accumulation of body fluid--as patients go about their daily lives.
10. When Your Diet Needs a Band-Aid
A new "smart patch" determines caloric intake and expenditure.
Weight watcher: A foam patch, like the one in this illustration, will monitor caloric intake and expenditure and send the data via Bluetooth to the user's cell phone.
