Novel Medical Device Inventions Use Light to Monitor Blood Pressure and Track Cancer Treatment Progress

Traditional blood pressure devices often leave room for human error. To address this, scientists at Boston University (Boston, MA, USA) have developed a new blood pressure monitoring device based on speckle contrast optical spectroscopy. This technology uses multiple wavelengths of light, ranging from visible to near-infrared (NIR), to monitor blood pressure. The device is worn by clipping it over the finger and strapping it around the wrist. Early, unpublished results from the team show that the device successfully measured blood pressure continuously and accurately on 30 individuals over several weeks. According to the researchers, taking blood pressure readings every 15 minutes for 24 hours and averaging the results provides much greater accuracy than a single reading in a doctor’s office. This technology is also more effective in predicting risks such as stroke, heart attack, and cardiovascular disease.

In addition, the researchers are working on a new tool to monitor how breast cancer tumors respond to chemotherapy or radiation treatment. Despite progress in treatment options, some breast cancer cases do not respond, or only partially respond, to chemotherapy. Existing monitoring methods like mammography, ultrasound, and MRI are not particularly effective at determining a tumor’s likelihood of responding to treatment. The new device measures metrics such as the concentration and ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated red blood cells, which can predict whether a tumor is likely to shrink. As doctors increasingly administer treatment before surgical removal of breast cancer tumors, monitoring tumor response in real time offers significant potential benefits. Real-time tracking of tumor shrinkage during treatment could help tailor treatment plans for breast cancer patients.

The scientists have been testing the device, which functions similarly to a handheld ultrasound scanner that moves over the breast tissue, in clinical settings and plan to continue evaluating its effectiveness over the next year. Ultimately, they aim to make the device smaller and portable, allowing patients to use it at home and send the results directly to their doctors, eliminating the need for in-person appointments. Although there is still much to learn and test, the possibilities for this technology are vast. The team is also developing a range of other optical technologies, including one to monitor dialysis for kidney disease and an early-stage device to help treat scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that causes skin inflammation and fibrosis, to track the effectiveness of treatments in reducing internal fibrosis—an area currently without any such monitoring tools.

“One of the most important things I think I do is, as we’re developing these technologies, we’re talking to a lot of physicians, understanding what their unmet needs are, and helping to understand whether our technologies could help,” said Darren Roblyer, a Boston University College of Engineering associate professor of biomedical engineering, who is leading the team. “My hope for this work is to make a real impact in the lives of patients.”