Industrial Technology Research Institute

Technology Overview

Heart Guardian is a patch-type device containing an ultrasonic transducer attached to chest wall and aimed above pulmonary valve to monitor blood flow velocity from right ventricle and transmit measured data to mobile computing device which will translate the signals for heart disease first aid. It is built with patch-type transducer, low power Doppler ultrasound signal processing chipset and mobile computing device to realize patchable continuous monitoring function and compact form factor. Items monitored include:

• Cardiac output (CO): Cardiac output is a measure of the amount of blood that is pumped out of the heart in one minute.
• Heart rate (HR): Heart rate refers to the number of times the heart beats every minute.
• Stroke volume (SV): Stroke volume refers to the quantity of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with every heartbeat.

Features & Specifications

• Features
  • Patch-type ultrasonic device
  • Continuous monitoring function for hemodynamic parameters
  • Mobile computing device data display
• Specifications
  • Compact form factor: The reduced size allows the device to adhere onto chest wall comfortably.
  • Low Power Consumption: The battery is capable of lasting 6~7 hours.
  • Low Price: 4,000 USD.
  • Integrated solution: The probe is integrated inside the patch.
  • Medical IoT ready: It can be connected to mobile phone for extended household applications.

Applications & Benefits

1. Shock Differential Diagnosis and Management:
   The utility of cardiac output monitoring is increasingly recognized as advantageous for both improved diagnosis and management of shock states. In contrast to conventional "static" measures, continuous cardiac output measurements enhance pathophysiology-based comprehensive understanding of shock states and the response to therapy. Clinicians routinely encounter patients in shock - including surgery, anesthesia, emergency medicine, and internal medicine. Cardiac output parameters provide better assessment on volume responsiveness and biventricular cardiac function for shock classification. 
2. Fluid Management:
   Fluid management is very important in many critical patients (neonates, burn, sock, ICU, infections). Fluid calculation based on urine output, body weight, non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) is not enough for fluid administration. Stroke volume variation (SVV) is a better indicator for fluid responsiveness and preload, which in turn gives very early detection of preload decrease, and prevents dehydration or over hydration in neonates.
3. Hypertension:
   Only one third of the hypertensive patients are well controlled. High blood pressure could be due to high fluids, high systemic vascular resistance (SVR) or high contractility. Knowing the reason is not possible by normal clinical examination, but cardiac output monitoring helps us to determine the cause of high blood pressure, and hence choose the right treatment rather than trial and error of medications. This will lead to a massive reduction in the cost of treating hypertensive patients, and will reduce heart failure (HF) patients as well.
4. Heart Failure: 
   It is one of the leading causes of death. It is challenging to titrate medications for HF patients especially when we have no idea about CO, SV, SVR, tissue & intravascular fluids and heart contractility. But with continuous cardiac output monitoring, it is very easy to manage and to titrate medications for these patients (especially inotropes and diuretics).

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