The electronic stethoscope
Processing cardiac sounds
A processing system said to pick up cardiac sounds and correlate these with any related abnormalities, e.g. valve defects, stenosis, fibrillation, septal defect, etc, has been developed by the US firm Biosignetics Corporation.
This patent-pending invention, named Heart Energy Signature, is aimed at helping physicians and medical students to identify cardiac problems during routine medical checkups. If defects are present, the cardiac sounds processed through the system prompt on-screen images that indicate what the problem may be.
Reported preliminary results also imply promising possibilities for use in neurology.
‘Our research direction is focused on early detection of silent heart diseases, so that they can be treated using less invasive methods,’ said Dr Vladimir Polyshchuk, President and Technical Director of Biosignetics, which is registered with the USA’s Federal Drug Administration (FDA) as an equipment supplier, and is currently seeking clinical research partners.
The Biosignetics Corporation, founded in January 2004, is a small business start-up located in Exeter, New Hampshire. It was founded to develop an inexpensive and widely available early detection heart diagnosis system. ‘We are focused on the cardiovascular market, specialising in cardiac rhythm management, monitoring, and diagnostics. Our short-term product strategy is to focus solely on the developing software applications that will utilise the electronic stethoscope for sound data collection.
Biosignetics Corporation has developed patent-pending heart energy signature phonocardiograph (PCG) software.’
Currently the firm sells two software products for educational and non-clinical research, and is working on heart sound databases, as well as on the regulatory approvals with the US Food and Drug Administration.
Details: www.bsignetics.com
01.07.2004
