FEATURE IOT SUPPLEMENT
Wearable medical electronics that aim for prevention rather than cure
Wearable medical devices present a dramatic change in diagnosis and treatment planning. Here Stephen Evanczuk from Mouser Electronics explores the potential this latest technology holds for the future of the healthcare industry and patient monitoring
M
edical wearables hold promise for enabling a broad range of health
services and benefits. The emergence of wearable technology brings IoT concepts of smart monitoring and automated response to the human body itself. In serving their role in constant, close proximity to individuals, wearables extend the functional requirements of machine-oriented IoT devices with new demands for form, fit and function. Wearables are already proliferating rapidly across a customer base increasingly interested in enhancing personal wellness. Fitness wearables monitor heart rate and motion using tiny embedded systems combining sensors, analogue-to-digital converters, low-power microcontrollers, and wireless radio. Unlike first-generation fitness devices, today's devices wirelessly feed real-time data to the user's Bluetooth enabled personal computer, tablet or smartphone. In turn, increasingly sophisticated applications combine this data with trend-analysis software and historical data pulled from the cloud to help suggest improvements in fitness, caloric intake, and even sleep patterns. Medical wearables promise to extend the depth and breadth of capabilities available within this class of product. Designed to provide better information to healthcare providers, emerging medical wearable devices are addressing needs both for improved data collection in healthcare facilities and for continuous monitoring outside physicians' offices. For example, doctors in Spain have been testing the ANESA system, a blood test system based on a series of five microprocessor-based smart sensors placed at various points on the human body. After the smart devices upload data to the cloud, a physician receives a report covering over 120 health parameters, including functional and hemodynamic balance, gaseous homeostasis, cardiovascular system, central autonomic nervous systems, respiratory and enzyme systems. Other medical wearables are intended to support remote monitoring, a capability already demonstrated to offer significant health benefits. According to the international Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), remotely monitored
S8 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015 | ELECTRONICS
dramatic change in diagnosis and treatment planning. Until now, healthcare professionals have been limited to infrequent snapshots of patient health taken during office visits or hospital tests. Wearables reduce reliance on costly
clinical resources and enable long-term at-home monitoring for at-risk patients. For both at-risk and healthy individuals, the availability of health data collected over time enables healthcare providers to develop a deeper, more complete understanding of their patients' health needs based on reliable trend data. Beyond the intangibles, remote
patients with chronic heart failure had fewer and shorter hospital stays than a control group. Similarly, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) promises to significantly reduce risks in diabetes patients where each percentage-point reduction in average blood sugar translates into a 40 percent reduction of vascular complications typically associated with diabetes.
HEALTH MANAGEMENT Designed to simplify diabetes management for active individuals, devices such as Dexcom's CGM units offer a wearable solution to this critical monitoring problem. Worn on the abdomen, the Dexcom sensor delivers data to mobile devices and the cloud. Intended for use during full physical activity, the Dexcom units proved themselves during a 12-day trans-European bike tour coordinated by the GSMA to showcase diabetes management. During the ride, the Dexcom sensors transmitted data to riders' mobile devices and to the cloud for remote monitoring by researchers and medical professionals.
These devices not only collect more detailed health data but they also securely deliver that data to healthcare providers for use in health assessment, diagnosis and treatment planning. In doing so, the emergence of medical wearables heralds a
Figure 1: The emergence of wearable technology brings IoT concepts of smart monitoring and automated response to the human body itself
monitoring devices promise to deliver significant real value to an overburdened health industry. The Continua Health Alliance organisation of healthcare and technology companies sees remote monitoring as the cornerstone of solutions able to reduce spending on chronic disease already surpassing $500 billion per year. In fact, medical wearable technology
enables benefits that extend well beyond remote monitoring. Already, medical device developers are pursuing active wearables able to provide immediate treatments to chronic sufferers. For example, a smart patch from Thimble Bioelectronics seeks to help relieve chronic back pain using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and electromyostimulation (EMS). Besides providing healthcare providers
with better data, wearables can also directly assist patients with sensory, physical or cognitive impairments. For example, Novartis is licensing Google's smart contact lens technology not only as a possible CGM device but also to help overcome presbyopia, where the eye becomes unable to focus on nearby objects. Although the enabling technologies are
in place, medical wearable solutions remain in their infancy. With their ability to efficiently enhance healthcare, it is just a matter of time before widespread adoption of these devices.
Mouser Electronics
mouser.com 01494 467 490
Enter 211 / ELECTRONICS
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