Mobile kidney monitoring trialled

The Oxford Kidney Unit is trialling a research project which uses mobile health technology to assess the wellbeing of kidney patients.

Patients who need haemodialysis - where their blood is cleaned using a dialysis machine - are frequently subject to a condition called intradialytic hypotension.

Patients can experience cramping, sickness and lose consciousness because of low blood pressure.

Researchers have started to carry out a trial system which records key data in an effort to prevent the condition before it occurs.

Patients are required to wear a piece of mobile sensory equipment on their chests, known as an Equivital EQ02 LifeMonitor, which measures heart rate, breathing, body temperature and other data.

The device is worn by the patient during treatment and for the next 24 hours. The information is then collected at the kidney unit.

The data is used in the assessment of patients' response to treatment and how their measurements vacillate, in order to predict when they might experience hypotension.

Clinical research fellow, David Meredith, said the technology could potentially be used to treat other disorders.

"Other than potentially helping patients with kidney failure, there is also scope for these types of systems to help investigations into sleep apnoea and other chronic diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure.” 

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