Slepian to Present on Stretchable, Wearable Medical Sensors

A device as thin as a Band-Aid, and just as flexible, could change how we monitor chronic conditions and ultimately improve patients' quality of life.

Dr. Marvin Slepian, a UA professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Arizona Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation, is developing stretchable, wearable medical devices that can detect an individual's sweat, heartbeat, breathing, temperature and motion. The data could then be saved to the cloud as an electronic health record or sent simultaneously to a cell phone – perhaps that of a patient's doctor.

The device, which Dr. Slepian envisions fitting on a thin strip of film worn by patients, would give physicians "the ability to see if someone has had a change in their mobility which may be a sign of worsening heart failure, if they've had a change in their activity level which maybe a sign of a neurologic condition or any of the things that are more chronic."

In a recent interview with KOLD 13, Slepian said such devices could ultimately reduce health care costs and may be on the market within a year or two.

Slepian will discuss the technology in two upcoming presentations: at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15, at the UA College of Medicine - Tucson, and at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 16, at the Canoa Hills Social Center in Green Valley. 

Photo courtesy of Tucson News Now.