– This toilet seat detects congestive heart failure



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March 21, 2019

Revolutionary product makes it easier for hospitals to monitor patients with this disease in the comfort of their own home.

Nicholas Conn, a postdoctoral fellow at RIT and founder and CEO of Heart Health Intelligence, is part of the university team that has developed a cardiovascular monitoring system based on toilet seats. (Credit: A. Sue Weisler)

A cardiovascular seat-based surveillance system, created by a team of researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology, aims to reduce hospital readmission rates for patients with congestive heart failure. The toilet seats, which will be imported through the FDA authorization process by Heart Health Intelligence, will be purchased by hospitals and distributed to patients with heart failure after discharge. The toilet seats are equipped to measure the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart and to monitor the heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygenation rate and weight and systolic volume of the patient, which corresponds to the amount of blood extracted from the heart beat. Algorithms badyze the data and, with subsequent developments, will alert advanced service providers of the deterioration of the state. A report will be sent to cardiologists who will then determine if an intervention is necessary.

Nicholas Conn, a postdoctoral fellow at RIT and founder and CEO of Heart Health Intelligence, is part of the university team that developed the toilet seats.

"Generally, within 30 days of discharge from the hospital, 25% of patients with congestive heart failure are readmitted," Conn said. "After 90 days of discharge from the hospital, 45% of patients are readmitted. And the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sanction hospitals that readmit patients for heart failure. "

Conn, the company's general manager, further explains that, using the national average for readmission rates, the penalty alone for the readmission of 150 patients is approximately $ 500,000 per year. The total cost of HHI's provision of 150 monitored toilet seats to 150 patients is $ 200,000. With this investment, he says, hospital systems will save more than double their initial investment in one year.

According to Conn, who earned three RIT degrees – a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and a PhD in Microsystems Engineering in 2016 – the system will detect deterioration conditions even before patients surrender. they are symptomatic. And with the rapid badysis of data, interventions can be as simple as a change of medication or a short visit to the office, instead of an admission to the hospital.

HHI, which joined the RIT Venture Creations business incubator earlier this year, is now focused on advancing the product. The team is actively involved in writing grant and networking applications, and testing on human subjects and preclinical studies is well underway. Conn and his team are working on product approval with the FDA and its deployment across the country.

To learn more about the research conducted in the project, visit https://mhealth.jmir.org/2019/1/e12419/.


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