X-Message-Number: 12958
From: Eugene Leitl <>
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 21:07:34 -0800 (PST)
Subject: MED: Computerised shirt could save lives 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_555000/555808.stm

Thursday, 9 December, 1999, 02:46 GMT 
Computerised shirt could save lives 

A shirt which monitors people's health while they go about their daily
lives could give doctors more chance of spotting danger signs in
patients.

The "lifeshirt" constantly records vital signs such as heart rate and
breathing, passing the information to a hand-sized computer worn on
the patient's belt.

The information collected is then passed via the internet to a secure
website where data analysers can forward it to the person's doctor,
warning of any changes in condition.

Manufacturers of the prototype shirt Lifeshirt.com, based in Ojai,
California, say it can be worn while people are at work, playing sport
or asleep.

As a result, it can give a more accurate picture of people's health
than recordings taken during brief visits to a doctor or at home.

"We can look at what is going on when you are at work in a stressful
situation rather than when you are sitting at home in a relaxed
environment," said inventor Dr Marvin Sackner.

The shirt, which contains six sensors positioned from the neck to the
abdomen and weighs about the same as normal clothing, is due to go on
general sale in September next year.

It will originally cost US$250 including the computer handset, plus
US$30 a day monitoring costs.

Company president Paul Kennedy said: "The lifeshirt provides a movie
of a patient's health that supplements the snapshot of a standard
office exam.

Accurate diagnosis

"It gives physicians vital information to aid in accurate diagnosis
for critical decisions and early preventive care."

Andrew Behar, co-founder of Lifeshirt.com, added: "If you are on the
golf course and you feel a bit breathless, you can pull out the
handset. It is truly 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Its potential uses include post-operative monitoring, pain management
and the avoidance of misdiagnoses. It can show up cases of sleep
apnea, where people stop breathing many times during a night's sleep,
which might otherwise be missed.

It capitalises on equipment used for years in intensive care units
that, with technological advances, can now be included in the fabric
of the shirt.

Dr Simon Fradd, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association's
committee for GPs, said: "This is the way the future is likely to
go. It isn't going to take 50 years - within 10 years we will have
people who are at risk wearing these kind of things."

But he warned stringent steps would have to be taken to ensure the
security of information being passed via the internet and that patient
confidentiality was not being breached.

"We need to find a way of handling data to make sure it is safe," he
said.

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