title: A novel paradigm for telemedicine using the personal bio-monitor.
abstract: The foray of solid-state technology in the medical field has yielded an arsenal of sophisticated healthcare tools. Personal, portable computing power coupled with the information superhighway open up the possibility of sophisticated healthcare management that will impact the medical field just as much. The full synergistic potential of three interwoven technologies: (1) compact electronics, (2) World Wide Web, and (3) Artificial Intelligence is yet to be realized. The system presented in this paper integrates these technologies synergistically, providing a new paradigm for healthcare. Our idea is to deploy internet-enabled, intelligent, handheld personal computers for medical diagnosis. The salient features of the 'Personal Bio-Monitor' we envisage are: (1) Utilization of the peripheral signals of the body which may be acquired non-invasively and with ease, for diagnosis of medical conditions; (2) An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based approach for diagnosis; (3) Configuration of the diagnostic device as a handheld for personal use; (4) Internet connectivity, following the emerging bluetooth protocol, for prompt conveyance of information to a patient's health care provider via the World Wide Web. The proposal is substantiated with an intelligent handheld device developed by the investigators for pediatric cardiac auscultation. This device performed accurate diagnoses of cardiac abnormalities in pediatrics using an artificial neural network to process heart sounds acquired by a low-frequency microphone and transmitted its diagnosis to a desktop PC via infrared. The idea of the personal biomonitor presented here has the potential to streamline healthcare by optimizing two valuable resources: physicians' time and sophisticated equipment time. We show that the elements of such a system are in place, with our prototype. Our novel contribution is the synergistic integration of compact electronics' technology, artificial neural network methodology and the wireless web resulting in a revolutionary new paradigm for healthcare management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Sanjay R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Bhatikar
authors.forename: Roop L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Mahajan
authors.forename: Curt
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DeGroff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000465:Algorithms; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006326:Heart Auscultation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020407:Internet; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation*