New Methods to Monitor Health Status and Clinical Laboratory Data

CareTaker is a small, battery powered, light, inexpensive, portable physiological monitor that records central blood pressure, beat by beat. It is comfortable, fits in the palm of the hand, may be worn continuously for days, remembers extracted parameters, has Bluetooth capability and interfaces with other Bluetooth devices including oximeters. Heart rate is recorded nearly as accurately as ECG allowing for computation of HRV. Most importantly, CareTaker has a shown great sensitivity in lower body negative pressure chamber; its T13 parameter is equivalent to blood volume. This proposal will verify long term accuracy using arterial catheters, show through blood donations that small amounts of hemorrhaging can be detected, and verify that its technology can detect dehydration and perhaps hypoxia. CareTaker is ideally suited for replacement of arterial catheters and has many applications in clinics and in the home. It is a new device based on the theory of reflections in the arterial tree and is leading to new insights and uses in medicine.