BioBeat improves wireless patient monitoring with cuffless solution
Medical technology innovation firm BioBeat took its patch- based wireless blood pressure monitoring solution, which it calls BioTech, a step further when it combined it with a smart watch, allowing users to get a better grip on their health data without the need to use a rubber cuff.
The company said in a Monday press release that its solution was demonstrated to be 96.31% as effective as traditional blood pressure measuring solutions in a study conducted by Scientific Reports.
How does it work? BioBeat offers a wearable patch that can check blood volume changes via the skin using light ( Photoplethysmogram, or PPG for short) and, using this data, detect the heart rate and monitor the patient’s breathing.
Since blood flows through the entire body with each heartbeat, light can be used as a method of measurement when it is beamed against the patient’s skin and then bounces back; healthy blood circulation will provide a different data set than poor blood circulation. Fingerworn PPG solutions, for example, are already widely used.
The patch solution is innovative because it collects data concerning 16 aspects of the patient’s health ( among them blood oxygen percentage) and transmits it to a secure cloud- based server, where it can be shared with all relevant parties. If patients are in a hospital, the patch can alert the staff when their readings drop as they sleep; if the patient is at home, a loved one can get a notification about the person’s condition.
“This medical service will be as revolutionary as antibiotics has been in preventing infection- related deaths,”
BioBeat CEO Arik Ben Ishay told The Jerusalem Post. “Thirty percent of the general population suffer from high blood pressure as an ongoing condition, which leads to lethal heart attacks or strokes. With proper monitoring, these deaths can be avoided. Ten years from now, thanks to us, to lose someone from a heart attack will be unheard of, God willing.”
He added that the light pulse used by his solution can also spot glucose levels in the blood, meaning it could be of great help to diabetics, especially during the night, when few people are being monitored.
In April, the Post reported that the BioTech solution was used in 15 Israeli hospitals. It is the first company, and only one to date, to win FDA approval for a cuffless solution of this nature.
This extra step was introduced last year when the
FDA approved BioTech coupling the patch with a smartwatch. The watch informs patch- wearers on their health condition and can offer a set of comprehensive solutions – for example, a text reminder sent to the patient’s smartphone to take medication.
The patch can be worn for up to 10 days and the watch needs to be recharged every three days, docwirenews reported last August.
During the COVID- 19 pandemic, a wireless solution that can offer real- time data about the oxygen levels in users’ blood can be a powerful game changer. Those who were exposed to a patient and are staying indoors could use the patch to ensure they get fast medical help if needed, and hospitals could offer fast relief the moment their patients are experiencing breathing or heart difficulties.