October 13, 2015 – Mouthlab

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Anchor lead:  A device you place in your mouth may soon assess a range of vital signs, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Perhaps you’re old enough to remember when thermometers were placed in the mouth.  Now a new device placed in the mouth may provide a range of data to help clinicians keep tabs on your health.  Called MouthLab, and developed by Gene Fridman, a biomedical engineer at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, it can measure a variety of functions.

Fridman: Right now it obtains temperature, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, breathing rate, electrocardiogram trace, and now we can also do what’s called FEV1, which is a measure of lung function.   :16

Measurement takes just a short time.

Fridman: Right now 30 seconds for all of the measurements and for the FEV1 is another six to 10.  Initially people find it odd because you have to put it just under the lips.  We have never had any complaints.   :14

Fridman hopes MouthLab will allow patients in the hospital and other care facilities to be freed from restrictive monitoring.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.