China-Japan Friendship Hospital tested and monitored 5 people using the Dyno, most of whom had heart conditions. The trial sponsor wanted to view, in particular, the ECG results of the heart problems in Dyno’s report. The doctors also compared the blood pressure measurement from hospital equipment and the measurement resulting from the Dyno test. The result was within the AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) standard (China-Japan Friendship Hospital Trial, 2014).

DynoSense also conducted another test at an elderly care facility, SarahCare of Campbell, a leading provider of adult and elder day care services in the south Bay Area. Testing of the Dyno was performed over a four-day period, initially testing 14 people, and tracking 6 for the entire 4 days, with an average of 3 times per day per person. The purpose of this trial was to validate the Dyno results against commercially available gold standard equipment results. Out of the 6 people who were tracked, the Dyno reported that two women in their 70s had heart conditions, one with PVC and one with arrhythmia. DynoSense then used an FDA approved ECG device to verify the findings, which confirmed that the Dyno findings are valid (Sara-Care of Campbell, 2014).

HYPERTENSION AND REMOTE HEALTH MONITORING

A broad range of advanced communication methods are available for patient self-management of hypertension (Rothman, Wagner, 2003; Logan, McIssac, Tisler, Irvine, Saunder, Dunai…Cafazzo, 2007), such as home blood pressure (BP) monitoring devices and tele-management (Kaufman, Patel, Hilliman, Morin, Pevzner, Weinstock, Goland, Shea, and Starren, 2003; Logan et al, 2000). However, attempts to better BP control have not been very effective, due to tele-management systems requirements for wired connections, lack of expertise of elders using the Internet, the interference of physician work flow, and lack of personal communication between patient and physician.

The Logan et al. (2000) study concentrated on developing and “pilot-testing a mobile phone–based remote patient monitoring system to improve BP control of hypertensive patients with diabetes” (p. 946). The findings concluded that use of this system was highly accepted by patients, and physicians who received reliable data were able to reduce BP of diabetic patients with uncontrolled hypertension without disrupting their workflow. However, new solutions still need to be researched and developed (Garg, Adhikari, McDonald, Rosas-Arellano, Devereaux, Beyene, Sam, and Haynes, 2005; Logan et al., 2000)

CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD)

A key goal of the respiratory community is the early detection of “Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AECOPD)” (Sund, Powell, Greenwood and Jarad, 2009, p. 1321) in COPD patients. AECOPD is a significant characteristic of the disease. Health status, such as quality of life, (Sund et al., 2009) often deteriorates due to recurrent pulmonary exacerbations (Sund, et al., 2009). AECOPD is often connected to an escalation in “symptoms, including cough, sputum volume/purulence and shortness of breath,” (Sund, et al., 2009, p. 1321) causing patients to seek medical help that often results in physicians intensifying treatment. If AECOPD goes untreated, the condition may gradually result in a drop in lung function. Early treatment of AECOPD is believed to result in shortened periods of symptoms and a chance to improve recovery; however, to manage AECOPD, patients must be diagnosed by their physicians at the early stages of symptoms. “Interventions aimed at delaying the progression of COPD and improve access to healthcare are considered high priority areas” (Sund, et al., 2009, p. 1328).

On August 28, 2014, Peking University First Hospital tested and monitored one person diagnosed with COPD who needed to wear an oxygen mask (Peking University First Hospital Trial, 2014). The patient had been admitted to the hospital multiple times in the past with the same problem. DynoSense Corporation was invited again to run the test. The doctor asked the patient to remove the oxygen mask for a moment to see how well the Dyno could track the patient’s condition.

The patient’s blood Oxygen measured by the hospital equipment dropped down to approximately 78% within a few minutes, and Dyno also tracked that rapid change in blood. A key vital that the doctor wanted to check was blood pressure. One interesting finding was that within minutes, multiple blood pressure measurements using a traditional cuff had large variations (14 mmHg variations in diastolic blood pressure when patient is in stable condition), while Dyno reported consistent blood pressure measurements across the different sessions (Peking University First Hospital Trial, 2014). 

Dyno is a user friendly device that can be used as required with little effort and the information captured is securely stored. Dyno is the premier example of current advances in remote health monitoring devices. Physicians will be able to access real-time patient data, creating improved patient treatment (Tehrani, 2015).