Smartphone Used To Detect Abnormal Heart Rhythms | TechTree.com

Smartphone Used To Detect Abnormal Heart Rhythms

Can also transmit collected data to doctors for immediate assistance.

 

Being diagnosed with heart ailments entails unwieldy and intrusive electrocardiography rituals such as Holter Monitoring systems. Although battery-powered portable Holter Monitors do exist, these diagnostic devices require doctors to analyse the data recorded over a period of at least 24 hours. However, engineers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne's (EPFL) Embedded Systems and Telecommunications Circuits Labs (ESL) have devised a convenient and intelligent active heart monitoring system that employs smartphones to make the process efficient and considerably less intrusive. The ability to provide real-time data to medical professionals is the best feature of this application.

Developed under the Guardian Angels for a Smarter Life project that aims to develop embedded, non-invasive, and low-cost medical devices, the electrocardiogram uses just four stick-on electrodes hooked to a belt-mounted wireless transmitter that sends readings to your phone. The engineers claim that the device can run continuously for 150 hours. The uninterrupted monitoring ability of the system is therefore only limited by the endurance of the average smartphone.

Pointing out the heart monitor's relevance over existing passive portable heart monitoring devices, ESL's David Atienza explains, "It provides an automatic analysis and immediate transmission of data to the doctor, preventing him or her from having to work through hours of recorded data". Moreover, the application developed in conjunction with the hardware features embedded algorithms that can detect heart rate abnormalities and immediately send a message to your doctor with a screenshot of the reading. Here's a video explaining how EPFL's heart monitor works:

 



That's lifesaving stuff, right there. However, the project seems to be still in the prototype stage, as the neither the app nor sensors seem to be available yet. There's a simpler, although not very convenient, iPhone alternative in the works as well.
 


TAGS: Science, Mobile Phones, Nachiket

 
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