Toumaz Demonstrates Body Worn Sensor Measuring Vital Signs

Professor Chris Toumazou FRS, CEO of Toumaz Limited delivering a public lecture at the Royal Society on Monday Nov. 28, 2011.

During the lecture, Professor Toumazou will show a live demonstration of the Sensium Digital Plaster developed by Toumaz Limited, a ‘spin out’ company from Imperial College London. A member of the audience will wear a Sensium device and their vital signs recorded and displayed.

The Sensium is a body worn sensor device for measuring medically graded vital signs of body temperature, heart rate derived from ECG and respiration rate. It takes the form of a plaster which adheres to the skin and can be worn without any adverse effect on the patient. It combines a sensor interface, signal processing and a wireless transceiver, which operates at very low power.

Traditional medical monitoring equipment is often bulky and not easily transportable, but a Sensium-enabled digital plaster is a wearable device which can continuously monitor key physiological parameters and wirelessly transmit the results to a base station where the data can be uploaded onto servers. Sensium can operate in a range of settings within the hospital and in the home, either post hospital discharge or for home healthcare.

There are significant cost savings to the NHS of being able to monitor patients “at risk” or suffering from a chronic illness remotely rather than by hospital or GP appointments. The patients benefit by not having to attend appointments so frequently.

“I am delighted to being giving the Public Lecture at the Royal Society and the opportunity to present this technology to a wide audience,” said Professor Toumazou. “We all have an interest in healthcare and how technology is being applied to improve treatments. I hope this demonstration will help people to understand how new technologies are being used to develop more personalised approaches to healthcare.”