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Filed in archive Investigational on September 15, 2005

CNET reports of a patch that can used to wirelessly transmit continuous blood pressure readings to a physician's office:

San Diego-based Triage Wireless has created, and hopes to bring to the market in the near future, a patch applied to the skin that continuously monitors a person's blood pressure, heart rate and other vital signs, and then forwards that information to their doctor's computer via wireless links.

The idea behind the AdvancedBPM system is to give doctors a far more accurate picture of a person's health, said Triage CEO Matthew Banet. Blood pressure readings are notorious for providing an incomplete picture of a person's health. Patients are in an uncomfortable environment, forced to wear an inflated armband and are often in a flimsy hospital gown. These environmental stresses can throw off the results. The doctor, meanwhile, gets only a few points of data.
patch

"It's almost impossible to characterize someone's blood pressure in a medical office," Banet said. "But that creates problems. What if you overmedicate, or what happens if their blood pressure is low (during the test), and you miss something?"

With the AdvancedBPM system, physicians conceivably will get a more complete view of a person's vital signs during different parts of the day, including while they sleep, and over an extended period of time. The system, ideally, would also help curb spiraling medical costs by reducing the number of hospital and office visits.