Yixin Medical Unveils Wearable Vest for Home-Based Pulmonary Fluid Monitoring in Heart Failure Patients, Aiming to Reduce Hospital Visits

Yesterday, MitrAssist Lifesciences Limited showcased a home-use non-invasive lung water measurement device. Resembling a vest in appearance, it allows heart failure patients to monitor their condition at home. At the event, Ge Junbo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Cardiology Department at Zhongshan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, stated that heart failure management is a systematic project. The advent of intelligent home-use medical devices can help provide timely warnings for patients' health and reduce hospitalization frequency. During his speech, Academician Ge Junbo touched upon the topic of sudden cardiac death among celebrities. "As a cardiovascular disease doctor, I feel deeply saddened. In China, 540,000 people suffer sudden cardiac death annually, and each loss deeply affects us." He told reporters that several well-known individuals had engaged in physical activity while fatigued, leading to tragedy. This serves as a reminder to the public: during the vulnerable health period of 40–55 years old, avoid extreme fatigue as much as possible. If you are already in such a state, do not persist in exercising, as it may trigger sudden cardiac death.

Heart failure is also a common cardiovascular disease, with about 12 million patients in China. Ge Junbo introduced that heart failure is a syndrome, and its causes include hypertension, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, senile valvular disease, myocardial ischemia, loss of myocardial cells, etc., and some causes have not yet been found. The cardiopulmonary blood pressure of heart failure patients will gradually increase, leading to fluid accumulation in the lungs, which we commonly refer to as pulmonary edema. At different stages of the disease progression, the content of pulmonary water will change dynamically, so the quantitative monitoring of pulmonary water content is an important indicator for evaluating the progression of heart failure. How to achieve precise and rapid monitoring of pulmonary water content has significant clinical importance. "In the past, doctors used the method of listening for wet rales to determine the pulmonary water content. Nowadays, X-rays, CT scans, and magnetic resonance imaging can be used," said Ge Junbo. "But these technologies alone are not enough because heart failure management is a systematic project that requires long-term home-based management." Could a home-use device be developed to provide long-term protection for patients' lives and health? MitrAssist Lifesciences, addressing this pain point, has developed a home-use non-invasive pulmonary water measurement device, becoming the world's first company to master non-invasive and accurate pulmonary water content monitoring technology. The scientific principle of this technology is to measure the dielectric properties of lung tissue by emitting low-power electromagnetic signals into the lungs. Among the blood, lung parenchyma, and air in the lungs, water has a high dielectric constant, while air has the lowest dielectric constant, with a large difference between the two. The differences in dielectric constants cause various components of the lungs to have differing wave impedance values for electromagnetic waves, so the wave impedance method can calculate the dielectric properties of lung tissue, which can then be converted into pulmonary water content data through computation. The normal range of pulmonary water content in humans is 20%-35%, and the detection range of the home-use non-invasive pulmonary water measurement device is 15%-60%.

The home non-invasive lung water measurement device is equipped with a corresponding mobile APP, which can be connected via Bluetooth. Once the patient's monitoring data exceeds the standard, this APP will issue a warning. It can also record the patient’s basic vital signs such as weight, blood pressure, and heart rate; retain measurement records, trace long-term changes, and intuitively present them through data curves.

"The key to treating chronic diseases is to bring medical resources down to the grassroots level," Ge Junbo said. In order to minimize heart failure patients' visits to large hospitals and avoid the awkward situation of "waiting three hours and seeing the doctor for three minutes in a tertiary hospital," a home-use non-invasive lung water measurement device could play an important role in the future — by collecting data and providing timely warnings, reminding patients to visit community hospitals for medication; community doctors can make more scientific diagnoses based on the big data collected by the ‘vest,’ and if encountering difficult cases, they can then refer patients to large hospitals.

Liu Jiafeng, Deputy District Mayor of Jiading, introduced that since its establishment in 2017, MitrAssist Lifesciences has grown into a leading enterprise in Jiading's biopharmaceutical industry chain and won the Excellence Award in China's Disruptive Technology Innovation Competition. The innovative achievements of this cardiovascular medical device company cover segments such as structural heart, heart failure, and coronary artery, with 178 patents granted. The company’s developed transcatheter mitral valve replacement system has entered the review process of the National Medical Products Administration.Innovative HealthcareInstrument special review, the surgery can be completed entirely under ultrasound guidance.

Original Title: Vest for Monitoring Lung Water in Heart Failure Patients Unveiled; Academician Ge Junbo Hopes It Will Reduce Hospital Visits