2024-03-20 06:30:00
Heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation… Increasingly sophisticated, connected watches are becoming real assets for monitoring our health. That of researchers from the Southern University of Science and Technology, in China, goes even further. At first glance, it looks like a crude prototype of a watch with a futuristic display. Looking closer, the visual displayed on its screen corresponds to the blood vessels present under the skin at the level of the bracelet.
The object would be, according to the authors of the scientific publication published in the journal Optica at the beginning of March, the first portable photoacoustic imaging device in the world, a technology which, in this case, makes it possible to display blood vessels in high resolution ( 8.7 microns on a maximum surface area of 3 millimeters in diameter) to monitor heart health. Normally very bulky, this type of imaging forms images by measuring sound waves created by the absorption of light (laser pulses sent) by tissues. It is beginning to be used in vascular, dermatological and oncological imaging.
I will tell you
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Monitor blood circulation in motion
The challenge for scientists was to miniaturize photoacoustic imaging so that we might move around with it. A challenge met although, in addition to the watch, you have to carry a 7 kilo backpack on your shoulders containing a power source and a tiny laser… The researchers, however, want to be optimistic. According to them, rapid advances in laser diode technology will make it possible to offer portable photoacoustic imaging without a backpack in the future.
However, the current device, successfully tested on volunteers, makes it possible to monitor the blood circulation of patients over time and when they are moving, which can prove very useful for assessing their state of health. In the future, and following some improvements, it might contribute to the early diagnosis of cancers (melanoma in particular), cardiovascular diseases, and even be used to analyze burns.
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