Researchers in the TRNC develop ‘smart T-shirt’ for heart readings
RESEARCHERS at the TRNC’s Near East University (NEU) have developed a “smart T-shirt” capable of taking electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements and monitoring and recording the electrical activities of the heart in “real time”.
An NEU announcement said that a prototype of the wearable technology “passed the tests successfully”.
It added that “all of the electromechanical and artificial intelligence-based algorithms of the device placed inside the T-shirt” were developed by NEU engineers. The smart T-shirt works “trouble-free even during physical activities”.
The second phase of the study will aim to “instantly deliver the real-time ECG data tracked by the smart T-shirt to the patient’s doctor,
thereby providing a chance to catch potential heart diseases beforehand”, NEU said. NEU acting rector Prof Tamer Şanlıdağ said: “The wearable healthcare products developed by researchers at the NEU Innovation and Information Technologies Centre and the Healthcare Operations Research Centre are very important studies that demonstrate the power of our university to produce science. The smart T-shirt developed by our researchers is a very important example of this.” Healthcare Operations Research Centre director Prof Dilber Uzun Özşahin said that “we have all seen how important and vital domestic
production is in the field of healthcare, especially during the pandemic”.
“Together with competent researchers at NEU, the products we have developed in the field of healthcare not only contribute to the TRNC economy but also move our country forward technologically,” she added.
Prof Özlem Balcıoğlu said that the smart T-shirt will ensure that heart patients, in particular those who require regular check-ups, can be “constantly monitored” as they go about their daily lives, which she said will be “invaluable for patient health” as it will allow doctors to “intervene quickly when necessary”.