Remote health indicators
Dear users, I accidentally stumbled upon a doctor’s article in the cloud and discovered there were not new, but very promising ideas regarding monitoring my own health indicators. After a careful study of the article itself and all the comments, it becomes clear that users are well aware of all the technical components of the issue (of course, this is GT), but often they don’t understand what kind of monitoring is involved, that is, they don’t understand enough about the medical side of the issue.
The purpose of this post: to highlight some of the most frequently used, most useful, and most importantly, the most affordable monitoring indicators that can later be used to create a doctor in the cloud system.
I would immediately like to outline that not a single sane doctor will consult you without an examination and the maximum amount of data that he can collect. Your finger hurts or suddenly pains of a piercing nature in your heart, you choke at night, or urine suddenly turns blood red - no one will be limited to advice on the phone or, in the future, cloud service. The doctor really needs to personally see the patient, send him to the maximum number of tests so as not to make a mistake with the diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment. Therefore, cloud services, from my point of view, are useful exclusively for warning the patient about the need to see a doctor.
A pulse oximeter is a device that measures the level of capillary blood saturation. In simple terms, it measures the saturation of capillary blood with oxygen. The greater the oxygen saturation, the better. Normally, the value of saturation is high and varies within small limits. Norm Sp02: 95 - 100. When saturation is 100 percent, 4 oxygen molecules are attached to each hemoglobin molecule. Values below 95 are considered hypoxic conditions, that is, conditions in which the body lacks oxygen.
There are two types of pulse oximetry: transmission and reflected. In transmission pulse oximetry, light beams are passed through the body tissues after passing through the tissues, the light flux is analyzed by the sensor. With reflected pulse oximetry, reflected light is analyzed. The advantage of reflected pulse oximetry is that it is permissible to attach the sensor to any part of the body, and with the transmission only to certain places (earlobe, finger, nose wing). In practice, transmission is more often used: they are cheaper and have less error.
This is what a transmission pulse oximeter looks like. Yes, there are special sensors even for iPhone
Estimated cost of a household system: $ 30-50. The sensor itself is cheaper, monitoring on the screen of a smartphone or the fitness gadget itself in the form of a bracelet (Apple watch, Microsoft Band, Google Fit, etc.), so a price of $ 10 will be adequate.
What is useful : allows you to evaluate the functional state of the body, suspect respiratory and heart failure
Blood pressure is the pressure that blood exerts on the wall of a vessel. There are two ways to measure blood pressure: invasive and non-invasive. Invasive does not fit by definition (a cannula or catheter is required in the lumen of the vessel), the standard, familiar non-invasive Korotkov method remains, with a cuff and a phonendoscope. The principle of action is as follows: the cuff is inflated, blocking the blood flow in the vessel, then gradually deflates. The first shock heard in a phonendoscope corresponds to the opening of a vessel under pressure in excess of the pressure in the cuff. This is systolic pressure. The last audible tone will correspond to diastolic pressure. In modern automatic sphygmomanometers, the phonendoscope is replaced with a Doppler (or oscillographic) sensor, but the essence of the process remains the same.
Just want to add that any automatic device requires calibration. I had to meet with a situation more than once when the patient’s personal device was mistaken by 10-20 mm Hg, which in certain situations can be critical.
Normal blood pressure: <130 / <85
Estimated cost of the entire device : $ 30
What is useful : allows you to determine hypertensive / hypotonic crises, arterial hypertension, control the effectiveness of the drugs.
Surely the combination of ECG letters excites in memory not the most pleasant image of a couch and a large number of colored wires. At the moment, there are several options for the placement of electrodes on the chest. In addition to the standard ones (3 on the extremities, 1 grounding, 6 chest), in the intensive care wards, the placement of electrodes across the sky is popular.
In order to remove the ECG from the sky, three electrodes are superimposed on the chest of the examinee:
The potential difference between these points turns into an electrocardiogram, which allows the doctor to evaluate the smallest deviations in the work of the heart.
Estimated cost of the entire device : the simplest electrocardiographs cost $ 150. But in the case of a “doctor in the cloud” all the functionality is not needed, the simplest modes are enough, which will significantly reduce the cost (sorry, I didn’t find anything like this on the network, only standard cardiographs).
What is useful : Diagnosis of most heart diseases (arrhythmias, conduction disorders, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, heart attack). There are a number of diseases (almost all heart defects) that do not have specific manifestations on the ECG. But even such diseases can be suspected and sent to the patient for a full examination.
And if all of the above is done in full and presented graphically, we will get a standard monitor of the intensive care unit (well, almost).
In general, I see the “doctor in the cloud” system as a kind of gadget bracelet, preferably with a monitor, to which you can attach all of the above sensors. In turn, this gadget will send information to the doctor, with whom there must be a feedback (from the advice of a nutritionist to emergency medical care). And of course, this “cloud” must be paramount protected in order to maintain medical confidentiality.
Regarding the price of the question: according to the most daring estimates, for $ 200 it will be possible to purchase a complete set of medical sensors.The future is not as close as it seems.
Thanks for reading!
I will be happy to answer all questions on the medical side, talk about medicine and the future. The attention of the author of the first article, ukod , will be especially valuable .
ProverbEveryone knows how to treat and how to teach.
The purpose of this post: to highlight some of the most frequently used, most useful, and most importantly, the most affordable monitoring indicators that can later be used to create a doctor in the cloud system.
I would immediately like to outline that not a single sane doctor will consult you without an examination and the maximum amount of data that he can collect. Your finger hurts or suddenly pains of a piercing nature in your heart, you choke at night, or urine suddenly turns blood red - no one will be limited to advice on the phone or, in the future, cloud service. The doctor really needs to personally see the patient, send him to the maximum number of tests so as not to make a mistake with the diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment. Therefore, cloud services, from my point of view, are useful exclusively for warning the patient about the need to see a doctor.
Monitoring
Pulse Oximetry
A pulse oximeter is a device that measures the level of capillary blood saturation. In simple terms, it measures the saturation of capillary blood with oxygen. The greater the oxygen saturation, the better. Normally, the value of saturation is high and varies within small limits. Norm Sp02: 95 - 100. When saturation is 100 percent, 4 oxygen molecules are attached to each hemoglobin molecule. Values below 95 are considered hypoxic conditions, that is, conditions in which the body lacks oxygen.
There are two types of pulse oximetry: transmission and reflected. In transmission pulse oximetry, light beams are passed through the body tissues after passing through the tissues, the light flux is analyzed by the sensor. With reflected pulse oximetry, reflected light is analyzed. The advantage of reflected pulse oximetry is that it is permissible to attach the sensor to any part of the body, and with the transmission only to certain places (earlobe, finger, nose wing). In practice, transmission is more often used: they are cheaper and have less error.
This is what a transmission pulse oximeter looks like. Yes, there are special sensors even for iPhone
Estimated cost of a household system: $ 30-50. The sensor itself is cheaper, monitoring on the screen of a smartphone or the fitness gadget itself in the form of a bracelet (Apple watch, Microsoft Band, Google Fit, etc.), so a price of $ 10 will be adequate.
What is useful : allows you to evaluate the functional state of the body, suspect respiratory and heart failure
Arterial pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure that blood exerts on the wall of a vessel. There are two ways to measure blood pressure: invasive and non-invasive. Invasive does not fit by definition (a cannula or catheter is required in the lumen of the vessel), the standard, familiar non-invasive Korotkov method remains, with a cuff and a phonendoscope. The principle of action is as follows: the cuff is inflated, blocking the blood flow in the vessel, then gradually deflates. The first shock heard in a phonendoscope corresponds to the opening of a vessel under pressure in excess of the pressure in the cuff. This is systolic pressure. The last audible tone will correspond to diastolic pressure. In modern automatic sphygmomanometers, the phonendoscope is replaced with a Doppler (or oscillographic) sensor, but the essence of the process remains the same.
Just want to add that any automatic device requires calibration. I had to meet with a situation more than once when the patient’s personal device was mistaken by 10-20 mm Hg, which in certain situations can be critical.
Normal blood pressure: <130 / <85
Estimated cost of the entire device : $ 30
What is useful : allows you to determine hypertensive / hypotonic crises, arterial hypertension, control the effectiveness of the drugs.
Electrocardiogram
Surely the combination of ECG letters excites in memory not the most pleasant image of a couch and a large number of colored wires. At the moment, there are several options for the placement of electrodes on the chest. In addition to the standard ones (3 on the extremities, 1 grounding, 6 chest), in the intensive care wards, the placement of electrodes across the sky is popular.
In order to remove the ECG from the sky, three electrodes are superimposed on the chest of the examinee:
- the first (red) is installed in the second intercostal space to the right of the sternum;
- the second (yellow) - in the fifth intercostal space on the back axillary line on the left;
- the third (green) is the fifth intercostal space along the mid-clavicular line on the left.
The potential difference between these points turns into an electrocardiogram, which allows the doctor to evaluate the smallest deviations in the work of the heart.
Estimated cost of the entire device : the simplest electrocardiographs cost $ 150. But in the case of a “doctor in the cloud” all the functionality is not needed, the simplest modes are enough, which will significantly reduce the cost (sorry, I didn’t find anything like this on the network, only standard cardiographs).
What is useful : Diagnosis of most heart diseases (arrhythmias, conduction disorders, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, heart attack). There are a number of diseases (almost all heart defects) that do not have specific manifestations on the ECG. But even such diseases can be suspected and sent to the patient for a full examination.
To summarize
And if all of the above is done in full and presented graphically, we will get a standard monitor of the intensive care unit (well, almost).
Conclusion
In general, I see the “doctor in the cloud” system as a kind of gadget bracelet, preferably with a monitor, to which you can attach all of the above sensors. In turn, this gadget will send information to the doctor, with whom there must be a feedback (from the advice of a nutritionist to emergency medical care). And of course, this “cloud” must be paramount protected in order to maintain medical confidentiality.
Regarding the price of the question: according to the most daring estimates, for $ 200 it will be possible to purchase a complete set of medical sensors.
Thanks for reading!
I will be happy to answer all questions on the medical side, talk about medicine and the future. The attention of the author of the first article, ukod , will be especially valuable .