Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Continous Cuff-free BP Monitor from MIT

Filed under: Anesthesiology , Critical Care , Medicine , Pediatrics

Important medical decisions regarding a patient's blood pressure are often based on an embarrassingly small amount of data. Blood pressure changes continuously throughout the day, hence a single reading, such as in a doctor's office, could be misleading by either vastly under or over estimating a patient's BP throughout an entire day. Currently doctors recommend keeping a blood pressure diary at home, but this is often inconvenient to the patient and sometimes the reliability is questionable.

To address this problem, Harry Asada at MIT has developed a continuous wearable cuffless blood pressure monitor that is worn on the wrist and finger of one hand. It works by measuring the velocity of patient's pulse from which the blood pressure can be calculated. Because blood pressure in an extremity changes depending on the height above/below the heart, the device contains accelerometers that can keep track of the hands position and adjust accordingly. The device transmits its data via radio or WiFi.

Asada says that the device may be ready for commercial use within the next 5 years.

Read the press release here...

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