Smart t-shirt helps monitor ill patients

You know the saying, if you can’t get the mountain to come to you, you would have to go to the mountain instead. Well, I guess the same can be said of doctors, although most folks would prefer to head to the hills than visit the doctor. This particular smart t-shirt comes embedded with its fair share of sensors that allows it to monitor patients suffering from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and Chronic kidney disease (CKD) remotely. Of course, the flexibility of such an invention allows the smart t-shirt to be adapted, catering for folks living with other incurable chronic illnesses that require long term care.

The by-product of a consortium of 14 partners across eight European countries, the Chronius project as it is known, has already received support of 7.25 million Euros to date in terms of research funding from the European Commission. This smart t-shirt will come with heart, respiratory and activity monitoring sensors, and it is nice to know that having an open, modular and flexible design paves the way for different sensors to be combined so that it can meet the numerous requirements of individual patients.

Roberto Rosso, R&D Manager at TeSAN, said, “Currently, treating such diseases requires patients to visit their doctor or specialist frequently for check-ups to monitor their progress. This is inconvenient for patients and doctors, it’s costly for healthcare providers, and the treatment may not always be optimal because of insufficient or inaccurate data.” Hopefully this smart t-shirt will not be too expensive when it arrives!

Edwin Kee
Categories: Medical