STAPLETHORNE LTD
DIGITAL ELECTRONIC STETHOSCOPE
Thanks to a DTI SMART award, Staplethorne has investigated the technical
and commercial feasibility of developing a cost-effective portable digital
electronic stethoscope. This product
will allow the digital recording and representation of heart sounds that are
clear, objective, and consistent. These will be easy to understand and
interpret and will be used for early cardiac diagnosis, for accurate medical
records, and for training. Having a quantitative heart sound record should
assist doctors and nurses, of varying experience, record and interpret these
sounds and it should allow objective record keeping of the progression of heart
valve disease. Records could also be sent elsewhere for expert opinion, telemedicine,
e-medicine, etc.
Customers will be GPs and hospitals world-wide.
Other potential applications are:
Research - the system could be used to compile a
database of different heart conditions.
As a training aid - for medical students and doctors in
training grades.
Use by nurses - in remote regions and in third world
countries.
Telemedicine/e-medicine - the heart sound recordings and diagrams could be
transferred by email, etc., so that a GP or a nurse could forward them to a
consultant to help with diagnosis, as well as accessing the proposed web
database.
Industrial - the core technology could be adapted for
industrial equipment monitoring.
Conventional stethoscopes allow doctors to listen to
the noises that the heart makes, but the interpretation of these sounds is
subjective and written notes and diagrams produced by doctors do not allow the
creation of accurate records that can be referenced to later or shared. Their
diagnosis of heart valve condition will be based on what particular features
they hear and how significant they think they are. Having a quantitative record
should assist doctors and nurses, of varying levels of experience, record and
interpret these sounds and it should allow objective record keeping of the
progression of heart valve disease. Records could also be sent elsewhere for
more expert opinion and this could form part of a telemedicine (or, ‘e-medicine’) strategy. A web-based ‘reference library’ of heart
sounds for various heart valve conditions could be set up, which customers could
access.
Staplethorne are aiming to move into a development phase – ahead of
clinical trials, manufacture, and world-wide product sales. We are looking for corporate partners who can
contribute to the development, clinical, manufacturing and distribution aspects
of this exciting project.
For more information,
please contact:
Managing Director
Staplethorne Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 1404 42455
Fax: +44 (0) 1404 41455
Email: medical@staplethorne.co.uk