December 8, 2004
Cellphone May Be Lifeline for the Sick
Recognizing the need for easier and less-intrusive monitoring of vital signs, medical companies are enlisting an everyday device: the cellphone. reports the WSJ.
"They're teaming up with telecommunications companies to develop modified cellphones that can monitor things like glucose, weight and blood pressure and automatically send the information to the doctor."
-- For diabetics, cellphones already exist with the capability of reading glucose test strips.
-- For people with heart disease, devices under development will be able to monitor their vital signs and send the information to a doctor on a regular basis, reducing the number of office visits.
-- HealthPia America, a Newark, N.J., telemedicine company, is working on a cellphone that has built-in biosensors. A diabetic simply has to prick their finger to get a blood sample that is applied to a standard test strip. The patient inserts the strip into the phone, which reads it and sends the data to a doctor or parent.
The technology is already in use in LG Electronics Inc.'s handsets in Korea, which retail for about $400.
Cellphone giant Motorola has teamed up with Partners Telemedicine, a Boston-based service of Harvard Teaching Hospitals, to develop preventive care via the cellphone. Using wireless sensors affixed like a patch to a patient's body, information like blood pressure and weight can be sent automatically to a doctor. The wireless sensors would be able to talk to the phone using a short-range wireless technology called Blue Tooth.
According to Mr. Lacal, senior manager of Motorola's MotoHealth project. the cellphone someday will serve as the hub that delivers health information, advice, and medical assistance.
Lack of tech savvy among some patients "is a barrier as well as the cost of the device and the likelihood of insurance coverage are questions that loom large.
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