Keeping healthy with
MedStar
The MedStar System is a
small device designed to help people with chronic diseases not only keep tabs
on their health from home, but keep their doctor's informed as well.
At MedStar's heart is a
small gray box about the size of a desk stapler which connects to a variety
of off-the-shelf health-monitoring equipment, such as a blood pressure sleeve,
weight scale or blood glucose monitor. The system is useful for patients with
chronic health problems, such as the elderly and diabetic, as well as those
with asthma or congestive heart failure.
Once a patient uses one
of the monitoring devices connected to MedStar, the system transmits the data
through a standard telephone line to a collection server, where it is then sent
to either the relevant hospital or physician. An Internet-based record management
system allows for remote health monitoring by off-site caregivers such as personal
physicians.
Developed by Ann Arbor,
Michigan-based Cybernet Medical Systems, MedStar evolved from NASA-funded research
that ultimately led to a wireless, miniature physiology-monitoring device used
by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). But the NASA system
went farther than just human health.
"What we had developed for
NASA was a much larger, much more complete physiological system," said Eric
Lichtenstein, CEO of Cybernet Medical Systems. "You could monitor mechanical
hardware as well as electrical, basically anything with a physical data output."
For example, the original
system could monitor the health of an astronaut inside a space suit while at
the same time measuring the suit's performance and health as well, he added.
MedStar monitoring device.
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