Augmented Reality Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

Is “Smart” Technology a Saviour of Healthcare?

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 28 May 2019 09:18:22 +0000

The healthcare industry is continuously sprouting with the exponential evolution of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and robotics, etc. These new areas of smart technology are expected to pose unswerving influence on the healthcare industry during the next couple of years.

Smart Health Technology is equipped to automatically obtain, store and compute health information from technically advanced sensors and offer personalized advice or automated actions from the collected data. This technology can interact and engage with data via Virtual or Augmented Reality to provide even more real-time experience for both, physicians and patients.

With the dissatisfaction among junior doctors reaching unprecedented levels (a staggering 80% feel excessively stressed) and the number of doctors progressing to specialty training dwindling to its lowest rate in the history of the National Health Service (NHS); these changes have never been more needed. In the event of NHS staff struggling to cope up with the growing demand for patient care, owing to the UK’s rising aging population, technology is seen as an enabler which will further propel healthcare professionals to work smarter, and not harder.

There are numerous opportunities for healthcare stakeholders/ manufacturers to innovate Smart Health Technology solutions, which are expected to streamline the precise medical care approach, e.g., telemedicine. However, there are also certain restraints in the regular healthcare system pertaining to infrastructure and adequate competencies to integrate Smart Health Technologies. Moreover, manufacturers and service providers need to ensure data security and adhere to global standards. Few of the latest applications of Smart Health Technology are Smart Apps, Smart Pills, Smart Syringes, Intelligent Fabrics, and Smart Wearable Devices.

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Smart Apps

The global smartphone users’ count is expected to surpass 2.5 billion by 2019. This exponential base of users is expected to influence the fate of health and fitness apps, which have already increased by more than 30% since 2016 (as on current date). It is estimated that almost 75% of current active mobile users run their health and fitness apps at least twice a week. With increased awareness among the mass population, people are leveraging technology to take better control of their health conditions such as asthma, infertility, obesity, and diabetes, etc. Moreover, the plethora of user data churned out from these apps are helping the market researchers access unparalleled volume of data for further in-depth and precise insights.

Smart Pills

The smart pill technology includes a wireless capsule, a receiver, and the software, which investigates and categorizes the gathered information from the patient who consumes the pill. It is an emerging technology, which is witnessing an upsurge in demand and is expected to show significant potential in the diagnostics domain in the future. The technology is used to detect gastrointestinal (GI) conditions and offers the physicians with information relating to several parameters such as pH, temperature and GI tract pressure.

For instance, the first digital pill -Abilify MyCite (approved in November 2017 by the US Food and Drug Administration) is used to track patients’ medication data. This is a venture between Tokyo-based Otsuka and California-based Proteus Digital Health (digital medicine service provider). The other key players operating in the smart pill technologies market include Novartis AG, Given Imaging Ltd., Philips Healthcare, Smartpill Inc., Olympus Medical Technology, Medtronic, Pentax Medical Co., Siemens Healthineers, Stryker Corp., GE Healthcare, and Boston Scientific Corp.

Smart Wearables

Smart wearable medical devices are small electronic products (consisting of sensors) which have computational competence. These devices are entrenched into items, which are attached to different body parts of the user. They can resemble watches, eyeglasses, clothing, contact lenses, shoes, or even jewelry.

Few of the latest smart health monitoring wearables in the global market include:

Apple Watch Series 4 (healthcare app)
Pebble Health (health monitoring app)
Zephyr BioPatch (wireless monitoring device)
Muse headband (brain-sensing monitoring headband)
AliveCor Heart Monitor (smartphone-based ECG device)
Garmin Forerunner 935 (GPS-enabled heart rate monitoring device)

Precisely, the Apple Watch Series 4 is embedded with an ability to automatically inform hospital service providers if a user becomes immobile for a stipulated period of time. This device assists people to become healthier, simultaneously storing real-time data which can be analyzed by healthcare professionals via remote patient monitoring, ensuring more precise and perceptive data for better healthcare practices. Moreover, AI can continuously monitor healthcare data and transfer the same to hospitals when necessary.

Conclusion

Upcoming healthcare technologies such as Smart Healthcare and AI are gradually renovating healthcare practices and are set to experience further innovations in the recent future. A significant number of healthcare experts are unquestionably banking on smart healthcare as a growing number of patients are keen to use these technologies and apps to improve their lifestyles. However, it is impossible to contemplate every research aspect of smart healthcare, considering its broad facets. Hence, as a result of the emergence of Smart Technology, healthcare stakeholders now should focus on imperative subjects such as security and privacy, ethics, training, biomarkers, genetics and personalized medicines, robotic-enhanced environments, human-computer interaction, and so on. The future is endless and exponential!

About the author

Victor Mukherjee is currently working as an Assistant Manager – Healthcare Practice, Infoholic Research

The post Is “Smart” Technology a Saviour of Healthcare? appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

Top 3 Latest Healthcare Innovations

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 06 May 2019 10:20:23 +0000

Wireless Stickers to Detect Food Quality and Safety

MIT researchers have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based wireless system that can detect the quality and safety of food items. The system uses Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags or stickers with tiny, ultra-high frequency antennas on many food products to sense potential food contamination. The researchers feel that this is a democratic way to bring about food safety and quality in the hands of the consumers. When an RFID powers up and transmit its signal, it interacts with the material in its near vicinity (i.e., inside a container) even if it is not in direct contact with that container. This interaction is called “near-field coupling,” and it impacts the wireless signal transmitted by an RFID. The system, RFIQ extracts features from this signal and feeds it to a machine learning model that can classify and detect different types of adulterants in the container. An initial prototype of the system has been made and tested in two applications. The results have demonstrated the ability to identify fake alcohol with an accuracy higher than 97% and identify tainted infant formula with an accuracy higher than 96%.

Source: news.mit.edu

Simba Hybrid Pillow

Simba hybrid pillow is a perfect combination of technology and material. It contributes not only to the best night’s sleep but also increases the benefits of sleep for the body and mind. The uniqueness of this pillow lies in the choice of the material with which it is made. The material or filling used is Outlast based on Nanotube technology and is made of memory foam tubes designed to adapt to each sleeper. Each pillow comes with hundreds of nanotubes that can be added or removed to alter the height and firmness of the pillow. This small laser-cut, cylindrical tubes are made from super-soft memory foam which molds to the shape of your head giving one utmost comfort. The pillow can be customized to be made soft, medium firm or firm by the addition or deletion of nanotubes. Each nanotube adapts to your sleeping position, supporting the complex structures of the head, neck, and spine. To keep the body temperature regulated outlast draws the heat away, trapping it within its fibers and as one cools down it releases the warmth back out. On the reverse side of the pillow is a combination of smart microfiber and premium 300 thread count jacquard cotton. This side is extremely soft, lightweight, breathable and highly durable. Thus, this pillow has the advantages of thermal regulation and height alteration which no other pillow has offered till date. This seems to be the future of comfortable sleeping.

Source: www.inshorts.com

First Ever FDA Approved Augmented Reality Presurgical Imaging Tool

Novarad HoloLens have collaborated to launch an OpenSight AR system which is the first ever FDA approved Augmented Reality pre-surgical imaging tool. The OpenSight runs on AR technology to give 2D, 3D and 4D patient images which can help doctors plan the surgery ahead more thoroughly as it gives dual side by side image, both of the patient as it is and their internals. Doctors can now use Microsoft HoloLens for specific, pre-operative purposes. The technology is going to be transformative as it will allow the doctors to have a full brief of the patients’ internals before they make the first incision. Novarad has also released the teaching version of OpenSight AR system to ease the medical students into the future. Students or other surgery attendees can witness the AR preparation first-hand since the HoloLens experience can be shared among multiple headsets. No doubt FDA recognized Novarad’s efforts by clearing the OpenSight system for use. It is a complete medical package, designed to improve the precision and utility of medical practice.

Source: www.healthimaging.com

Top 5 Latest Healthcare Innovations for the month of June 2019

The post Top 3 Latest Healthcare Innovations appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

INTERNET OF THINGS IN HEALTHCARE

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 10:08:05 +0000

According to the Medical Council of India, the doctor-patient ratio in India is around 1:1,674 against the WHO norm of 1:1,000. In such a scenario, IoT can actually be a great leveler.

As of now healthcare delivery in India happens when patients visit doctors for treatment. It is felt that IoT can bring the treatment to patients’ door step. Experts describe how the technology will benefit the sector. “The data of a patient can be captured via various wearables. A doctor can interface through a combination of consumer IoT (wearables) and other exponentials like Augmented Reality, which could change the way in which healthcare is delivered. Little wonder then that businesses are looking to explore this space. Here’s a look at a few startups in the healthcare IoT space in India.

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1. SPEACTRAL INSIGHTS

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Pathologists in India don’t lead an easy professional life. And since senior-level pathologists in India are way short in numbers to serve the 120,000+ pathology labs across the country, the work pressure on them is unexceptionally high. There are also several occupational hazards due to the laborious manual process of operating and viewing through the lenses on a microscope for such long time.

Startup firm Spectral Insights aims to come in rescue of pathologists by providing high quality digital copies of slides. The company insists that the technology they are using isn’t new as it’s available in the developed world but unaffordable by labs in India.

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So in this light the company has built an affordable automated microscope that makes digital images which are available to pathologists on a computer screen, either locally or over the Cloud. The company also builds various tools to help pathologists make rapid and informed diagnosis, thus increasing their productivity while raising the quality of the outcomes for the patient.

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2. CARDIAC DESIGN LABS

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It is estimated that India has a ratio of 64 million cardiac patients to 4000 cardiologists. Cardiac Design Labs designs and deploys intelligent devices which help in bringing advanced diagnostics beyond large hospitals. The company has developed a wearable device called MIRC aM (Mobile Intelligent Remote Cardiac Monitor) which is capable of providing real time advanced cardiac diagnosis and monitoring in remote settings. The company believes MIRCaM will bridge the doctor patient gap. Resting ECG which is the prevalent method for diagnostics at small hospitals is only good at detecting patients whose heart problems are acute. However, often many cases with early symptoms go undetected. MIRCaM is designed to solve this problem.

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3. FORUS HEALTH

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Forus Health is a medical technology startup founded by a group of engineers with the goal to eradicate avoidable blindness. According to data provided by the company, 80% of blindness in the world could be saved if screened and treated early. For this, Forus Health has built an imaging platform called 3nethra, a portable device for screening common eye problems.

Here, IoT helps in conducting remote diagnosis. The images are screened in remote locations and doctors in towns and cities grade them and the patient gets the report back in their respective locations wherein all this happens over the Cloud.

So far 3nethra has helped in more than 300,000 remote reading and reporting and has been able to touch around 150 locations. They aim to cover 3000 locations in coming years.

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Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6

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