Careful and continuous monitoring is critical in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where premature babies (defined as less than 37 weeks of gestation) cling to life, often surrounded by the deafening sound of machines and nests of tubes and wires. According to the World Health Organization, over one in ten births worldwide are premature. An estimated 15 million babies each year, of which more than one million will die because of complications from their prematurity. Preemies require special care until their organs have fully developed. Palm-sized infants are placed in temperature-controlled incubators, feeding tubes are inserted through their noses, and electrodes and sensors are attached to babies’ sensitive skin to track their breathing, heart rate and oxygen levels. The monitoring devices are not only invasive and uncomfortable — they can place fragile babies at an even higher risk of infection. The good news is that this doesn’t have to be the norm. With the advancements in wireless monitoring technology rapidly evolving, less invasive methods have the potential to provide better care. For example, at The Manipal University Hospital in Bangalore, India, Xerox researchers are reinventing heart and respiration monitoring with imaging technology, allowing for cost-efficient, more manageable detection — no hardware attached. In the NICU, high-definition webcams record changes in infants’ skin and track their heart rate through a videoplethysmographic (VPG) signal — a series of pulses that reflect the change in vascular blood volume with each cardiac beat. The camera then feeds the information into a computer, which takes into account movement and other factors to determine the baby’s vital signs. Remarkably, the camera can scan a child from a distance of more than three feet, with appropriate optics, making it unobtrusive as well as safe. Providing the most high-quality, least invasive healthcare is critical considering that premature births are the second-leading cause of death of children under 5 year globally. But even beyond the neonatal unit, the benefits of visual monitoring and its implications on telemedicine could be far-reaching. Xerox researchers are currently working on ways to expand remote health sensing to diagnose and monitor other health problems, including cardiac arrhythmias, respiratory dysfunction, breast cancer, asthma, perfusion and hypertension. For cardiac patients, the remote camera could detect arrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation by measuring beat-to-beat variations. For hypertensive patients, it could detect blood pressure, and for asthma sufferers, it could measure breathing patterns. Likewise, the camera could pick up thermal changes in breast tissue for early detection of breast cancer. The benefits for seniors could prove to be astounding, as well, ranging from eliminating the need for wearing unreliable portable monitors to reducing the overall cost of monitoring age-related diseases. What’s more, the technology may one day be used at home as well as in places that have limited medical facilities, making it possible to provide better healthcare in remote or poverty-stricken areas. Advancements in healthcare monitoring have the potential to make new sources of data available and easier to collect. This will ultimately give healthcare providers new insights into patients’ symptoms through more accurate monitoring of their unique conditions and ailments. The end result should be an improved quality of life for everyone by helping more people to stay healthy. source
