Triage
Wireless has snagged some great PR with this story on CNet News.com.
There are two key areas where new ambulatory monitoring products offer
advantages over existing products: communications and sensors. Triage
has a strong position in both. The story provides a brief intro to the
ambulatory monitoring market and describes the market segment that
Triage Wireless has targeted.

The real news in this story is additional information on the sensor
technology used in the product, AdvanceBPM. Traditional ambulatory BP
monitors use cuffs and inflate to take readings every 15 to 30 minutes.
AdvanceBPM provides continuous blood pressure readings. While not quite
as precise as traditional cuff based readings, the new sensor is much
more comfortable, provides more (continuous) data, with measurements
coming within a few percent of cuff readings.

The AdvancedBPM system, in part, owes its heritage to the semiconductor
equipment industry. The patch takes three vital signs: heart rate,
pulse oximetry (the amount of oxygen in the blood) and blood pressure.

The first two are measured through an electrical sensor. "Every
time the heart beats, it sends out an electrical signal," [Triage Wireless CEO Matthew] Banet said. A
future version will also take temperatures.

In AdvancedBPM, the patch contains an optical sensor tuned to detect
changes in the density or volume of arteries. Changes in the volume
affect blood pressure. The basic technology came from a company with
which Banet was once associated that made optical sensors for "seeing"
whether semiconductors contained defects.

The patch has to be calibrated to each individual patient. Some people
have stiff arteries, while others have large, flexible ones. While not
as accurate as traditional systems for measuring blood pressure, the
results so far are promising.

You can read my previous post about the communications features of AdvanceBPM here.

[Hat tip: FierceHealthcare]