We use our smartphones for doing a number of things. Making calls, checking up on emails and social networks are some of the major uses of such a device. They’re now able to monitor our blood and warn us if we’re about to have an heart attack, all thanks to a new implant. A team based at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed this new 14mm implant, the smallest in the world, and it monitors crucial things in blood such as ATP, glucose levels, proteins, and lactate during periods of rest as well as activity.
The implant will transmit data to the smartphone by using Bluetooth. It obviously needs power to work. This is taken care of through a battery patch that will provide 100 milliwatts of power through the skin, using inductive charging. Heart attacks are usually preceeded by dumping of troponin, a protein, into the blood. Having the ability to monitor blood through the smartphone means having enough time to take precautionary measures against an oncoming heartattack, as the implant would warn about the presence of troponin in the blood.
[image credit: Extremetech]
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