Medical monitor developer LifeWatch AG has launched the world’s first medical smartphone, for android-powered devices. The smartphone has built-in sensors for monitoring heart rate, pulmonary function, blood sugar levels, body temperature and galvanic skin response (which measures psychological pressure) as well other physiological variables. The system can also measure blood pressure with an attached sleeve, and analyse blood samples. LifeWatch has invested several million dollars in the product.
LifeWatch, has developed a range of wireless monitoring devices for emergency rooms and medical services, as well as for personal use, but for the first time that it has brought together these capabilities on a smartphone. Chinese mobile phone manufacturer TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology will manufacture the platform for LifeWatch. LifeWatch will develop the medical applications hardware and software that connects the hardware with the smartphone’s systems. A German company is responsible for the design.
The mobile-health interface is a growing arena with several devices, not mobile phones, which collate and transmit medical data, and present them to users, and there are medical mobile apps for managing fitness, medication regimes, and even skin cancer diagnosis by photo analysis. There are also companies that develop proprietary sensors to measure separate medical variables like blood glucose levels or heartbeat, for integration with smartphones.
EH News Bureau