Wearables are Watching Over Your Wellness

Medtech wearable technology is cutting edge when it comes to improving healthcare. From smart watches to patches, these devices are able to monitor and aid people’s health in ways that were only available in clinics and hospitals. It’s no wonder that Israel, the Start-Up Nation, is leading the way in developing these innovative and lifesaving medical devices.

Wearable medical technology has been growing in popularity as new biosensor technology and smaller batteries make them more user friendly, reported Health News. These devices can monitor heart rate, blood pressure, warn against strokes, as well as monitor athletes fitness.

While wearables cannot take the place of a physician, doctors believe that medical devices are a new wave of observing patients and catching issues quickly, reported NoCamels.

“This is how we can use these wearables as an integral part of the way in which we practice medicine,” Dr. Shirit Kazum, a sports cardiologist and echocardiographist at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, told NoCamels. She stressed that doctors will find their own ways to use these devices in their practices.

Here are three Israeli startups that have developed innovative medical technology:

Customized medical patches
A smart skin device that is made up of electrode patches that monitors your body’s key functions was developed by the biotech company X-trodes, that is based in Herzliya. These customized patches can be placed on any part of your body to monitor heart, brain, muscle, and eye activity.

The patches are wireless and flexible and do not require gels like other devices and it was recently approved by the FDA. This means that electrophysiological monitoring which was only available in medical settings can now be done at home.

“The X-trodes system is the next generation of wearable and fully wireless solutions, enabling clinicians and researchers to unleash the full potential of medical-grade electrophysiological monitoring,” X-trodes CEO Ziv Peremen told NoCamels.

Stroke alert technology
Recovery from a stroke often depends on how fast you receive treatment. That’s why being able to predict when a stroke is about to occur saves precious time. The medtech startup Avertto, located in Aderet, uses cutting-edge pulse-wave technology to monitor changes in the blood flow to the brain in its StrokeAlert device, reported NoCamels.

The pulse wave technology has sensors that when placed over the carotid arteries on both sides of your neck  measures blood flow levels. The data is transmitted to a smartphone app that sends color codes to the user. Green means everything is normal, yellow means that the data is still being analyzed, and red means high risk of a stroke and an alert is sent out to the wearer, health care providers, and to first responders.

Once a patient shows clinical signs of a stroke – the only way to diagnose a stroke before this new technology – it may be too late.

Check vital signs on your smartphone
While not technically wearable, the binah.ai medtech startup turns mobile devices like smart phones, and tablets into medical monitoring tools that can measure your heart rate and oxygen saturation, reported The Times of Israel. The company, which  was founded in 2016, uses cameras on smart devices to scan your skin. All you need to do is look into the camera and the company’s system will measure vital signs.

The company’s co-founder  and CEO David Mamon told The Times of Israel that binah.ai’s technology picks up on skin changes to draw conclusions about vital signs. “Basically we’re following around the tiny color changes that are happening to the skin and the tiny color changes indicate the blood flow that is happening below the skin surface,” he said.

The technology uses AI and machine learning but it does have a drawback. It cannot detect changes in dim light or in bright sunlight.