Analog Devices, MIT develop patient monitoring devices

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), a global provider of high-performance semiconductors for signal-processing applications and a long-time supplier to the medical equipment industry, announced a collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to research and develop technologies for next-generation patient monitoring devices. Through MIT's new Medical Electronic Device Realization Center (MEDRC), senior ADI engineers and MIT research scientists will work side by side in developing new technologies for portable devices that can check vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygenation and respiratory rate, in the comfort of a patient's home.

"Thanks to modern technology, medical devices that once were found only in a hospital or doctor's office are finding their way in different form factors into our homes," said Patrick O'Doherty, vice president of the healthcare group of Analog Devices. "Analog Devices is excited to work with MIT on researching new technologies that further the movement of bringing technology into the home and enable medical devices companies to design the next generation of portable, affordable and reliable patient monitoring systems."

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in 2009 the United States spent more than 50 percent of the $2.5 trillion in healthcare expenditures on hospital care and physician clinical services. Patient monitoring devices employed at home can significantly reduce these costs by shortening the length of hospital stays and reducing the number of doctor visits required for routine monitoring.

"Moving patient care into the home marks a radical change in how healthcare is delivered and innovative medical devices are essential to making this important shift possible," said Dr. Charles Sodini, MIT professor and co-founder of the MEDRC. "The goal of our research with ADI is to provide medical device companies with the technology necessary to create continuous vital signs monitoring systems that improve the lives of patients throughout the world."