A wireless monitoring system for people with debilitating conditions such as Parkinson's disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) could allow healthcare workers to assess a patient's health and the development of their disease without hindering their movements. Details of the system are reported in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology.
Pallikonda Rajasekaran of Kalasalingam University, in Tamil Nadu, India, and colleagues say that assessment of a patient's disease state under the normal conditions of their everyday lives is becoming increasingly important in improving treatment and following the progression of many conditions as well as keeping costs down by avoiding unnecessary medical call outs and hospital visits. So-called ambulatory investigations are also providing important clues to researchers about a range of health problems associated with the likes of PD and COPD.
Rajasekaran and colleagues have developed a real-time monitoring system for patients. The system consists of vital signs sensors, a sensor network, electronic patient records and web portal technology that calls on medical personnel when life-threatening events occur. Their system circumvents some of the issues associated with current monitoring technology, such as unwieldy equipment and inconvenient wires between sensors and processing unit, a lack of integration of different sensors, the non-existent support for data collection and knowledge discovery that technology could offer medical research.