Smartphones as health controllers

Numerous medical innovations will be presented at MEDICA

11/16/2011

Smartphones to monitor health, wipeable ultrasound equipment, tinnitus therapy via headphones - all these are medical novelties that will be presented at today's world's largest medical fair MEDICA in Dusseldorf.

Until Sunday, nearly 4,500 exhibitors from 110 nations will be presenting revolutionary medical innovations at the medical trade fair. At the forefront is the use of the smartphone to monitor health. But in the fields of electromedicine, laboratory technology and physiotherapy also numerous other world novelties could be presented.

Mobile phone measures blood pressure, body temperature and blood sugar
The potential applications of smartphones in the field of health booming, ranging from the blood pressure measurement on the weight or blood glucose control to use as a baby monitor. In cooperation with product partner Medisana, for example, Deutsche Telekom has presented applications for smartphones at MEDICA 2011 in which patients can record, store and monitor a wide variety of body parameters themselves with the help of their mobile phones. For this purpose, various plug-on modules have been developed, which allow control of blood sugar, body temperature or blood pressure. The corresponding apps are made available for free download. The smartphones can also forward the data directly to the doctor, so that he is always informed about the condition of his patients. Another new application of smartphones is the early detection of skin cancer, where doctors use a microscope plug-in to take pictures of suspicious birthmarks and then upload them to an online portal where they can seek second opinions from fellow physicians.

Smartphones when used in medicine
By contrast, the smartphone babyphone recently presented at the Health2.0 congress in Berlin is almost old hat. The use of smartphones for weight control or as a removal aid has also been known for some time. In doing so, the balance sends the mobile phone the current weight during weighing and supports the motivation of those who want to lose weight, according to the inventors. However, although smartphones are increasingly being used as health controllers in hospitals, doctors' offices and at home patients, the mobile applications can not replace extensive clinical analyzes, in-depth medical examinations and laboratory evaluations, according to the experts. Also, user errors can not be ruled out, which would entail significant health risks for patients with exclusive control by the smartphone. In addition to the fields of application for smartphones presented at the MEDICA, a Japanese inventor recently made a name for himself, who after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima developed a reasonably priced Geiger counter that can be connected to smartphones. As stated by the manufacturer Sanwa, the results of the radioactivity measurement are reproduced directly on the display of the mobile phone. With the help of a 14 centimeter long and five centimeters wide probe, the load is recorded and then displayed on the smartphone. Initiator of the development was the young Japanese researcher Takuma Mori, who was angry after the nuclear disaster in March over the prices of Geiger counter. The still available devices should then cost at least 60,000 yen (570 euros), whereas the probe for the smartphone with a purchase price of 9,800 yen (95 euros) would be a real bargain.

Novel tinnitus therapy with neurostimulator
However, the fields of application of smartphones are by no means the only medical novelties that will be presented at the medical trade fair in Dusseldorf. Another high-tech development is, for example, a matchbox-sized neurostimulator intended to help treat tinnitus or tinnitus. To avoid the humming, beeping and noises in the ear, patients have to carry around 2,700 euros a day for around four hours, which sends headphones specially programmed by the doctor into the hearing center via headphones. Through the well-rehearsed tones, the brain of tinnitus patients should unlearn the unpleasant continuous tone, explained the managing director of the manufacturer ANM (Troisdorf), Claus Martini, to the news agency „dpa“. In the tests, an average of 75 percent of tinnitus patients had no symptoms after the novel, six to twelve-month therapy, according to the statement of Claus Martini. Only 20 to 30 percent of those affected did not respond to the treatment. In view of the fact that tinnitus patients are more likely to experience successful overall treatment, the numbers of the neurostimulator seem quite promising, which should have played a key role in the award of the novel device with the German Innovation Prize for Medicine.

Ultrasound images in unprecedented quality
Another focus of the presented novelties are developments in the field of ultrasound. Thus, not only was a fully erasable ultrasound machine presented that can be easily disinfected after surgery during surgery, but also the progress in the quality of the images inside the body was convincing. Pregnant women today have the opportunity to print three-dimensional color photos of their unborn children, on which hands, feet and facial features of the fetus are so vividly illustrated that similarities with mum or dad could be established even before birth, the manufacturers promised. Malformations such as jaw-palate clefts can be recognized early on these particularly precise images. The disadvantage of this particularly accurate ultrasound examination, however, is the price. According to the investigation, the procedure already in use in some practices will cost up to 250 euros per examination.

Golf course ambulance: save lives, protect lawn grass
The special emergency ambulance for the golf course falls into the category of something curious innovation at the medical trade fair. The „RescuECar“ The company Lührs Rescue from Münster is similar to the electric vehicles that can be found on the golf course in normal operation, but it is equipped with some additional accessories to enable ambulance transport. The 25,000-euro vehicle is particularly gentle on the lawn and allows the emergency physicians without conventional ambulance to collect the needy golfer directly on the square. Who thinks there is no need, was wrong. „At first we were laughed at for our developments“, but for the golf course ambulance already first interested parties from the Gulf of Emirate Qatar have registered, said company manager Stefan Lührs. (Fp)

Picture: Peter shrub