Smartphone-connected devices and the future of medicine

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Smartphones have become ubiquitous in today’s society with most people relying on their mobile devices to always stay connected and online. What if, however, these devices could be used for so much more? What if they became part of the tools that doctors have in order to monitor their patients and provide treatments for some conditions?

Advancements in medicine and technology may soon make this thought a reality. Already there are many applications being developed to turn smartphones into devices that can help monitor a person’s vital signs.

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In envisioning the future of medicine, some experts argue that decentralization is the way into the future. People may soon have gadgets at their disposal to check and monitor their health and send the data to their doctors easily. This setup will require less patient visits to medical centers for routine checkups while vastly improving the delivery of care. 

Meanwhile, many apps are now being developed for diagnosis and treatment of certain health conditions. For example, there are apps that monitor the subtle hints in the user’s voice during everyday phone conversations to detect for early signs of mood changes. This type of program has applications in monitoring the conditions of patients with bipolar disorder.

Another app that is currently being developed is a smartphone-connected device that will deliver electrical stimulation to the nerves in a person’s head to help improve mood. A possible application for such a device would be to help a person calm down and relax.

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Riyesh R. Menon is a research and development engineer for a medical device company in New York. For more articles on biomedical engineering applications, visit this Google+ page.

Embryo selection techniques increase IVF success

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The failure of the embryo to implant in the womb is a common reason many couples remain childless. This compels them to undergo IVF treatments.

However, IVF success rates have been significantly low over the years. Fox News reveals in its report that the standard techniques of choosing embryos are based on microscopic findings. This inadequacy puts many IVF cycles at risk of failure because the embryo chosen may have looked good through a microscope but not viable enough to develop. Thus, many fertilization clinics in the world have started to grasp the idea of closely monitoring embryo development.

In one study, published in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online, British fertility experts used the method to choose low-risk embryos using a new IVF technique that takes thousands of snapshots of a developing embryo. This technique can help fertility doctors identify embryos that are least likely to have chromosomal abnormalities and will develop successfully into healthy babies.

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Another study in Oxford University, led by Dr. Elpida Fragouli, found a way for doctors to pick out embryos most likely to have a 50 to 60 percent chance of generating pregnancy. The team found cutoff points which embryos could guarantee implantation. They also analyzed the amount of mitochondrial DNA found in early-stage embryos to determine whether they affected the chances of implantation after womb transfers.

These findings remain to be mere developments until scientifically assessed and proven. Time will tell if they can be worthy of the phrase “advances in the science of IVF.”

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More scientific studies are featured on this Riyesh Menon blog.

Directing research to create products for healthcare

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Biomedical engineers are known for addressing interesting questions that potentially restructure industries in medicine and engineering.  Because of the nature of their work, biomedical engineers get involved in research geared towards creating new products that revolutionize treatments and therapies.

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One of the examples of the impact of engineering and technology in the field of medicine is the use of imaging in neurology.  Previously, the neurological methods were very limited, as tools for observing the brain and the internal workings of the nervous system were limited.  Engineering, however, contributed leaps and bounds to the science by introducing neural imaging. 

Modern applications now involve the use of a non-invasive brain computer interface to pick up the weak electrical signals generated by the neurons, decode the signal, and to use that signal to control a device.  Advancing research in this field offers promising results in allowing paralyzed individuals to interact and communicate.

There are many other practical applications for the research done by biomedical engineers.  Among the fields that have seen increased activity recently is wearable technology, which integrates sensors into garments.

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Experts see a lot of potential in improving the healthcare system with the use of devices that can monitor a person’s vital signs regularly and upload data to the Cloud.  Doctors can then easily consult patient information online and gain better insights on a disease’s life cycle.  They can also alert patients to warning signs of dreaded conditions before they are needed to go to an emergency department because they already feel unwell. 


Riyesh R. Menon is a research and development engineer for a medical device company in New York. For more links to articles about biomedical engineering, visit this Google+ page.