G-Tech - Wireless Wearable Electrode Patches System
G-Tech is developing a wearable medical technology that will be used to measure gastrointestinal (GI) motility. The G-Tech system will consist of wireless, wearable electrode patches that read electrical signals at the skin surface, a smartphone app that collects the raw data from the patches via Bluetooth LE and sends it to a cloud server, and data analysis algorithms that process and quantify the motor activity of the digestive organs. The system is currently under development.
The patches will be conforming, water resistant, thin, light and completely non-invasive. Although wearable and smartphone connected, the G-Tech system will be a medical device that will be used under the supervision of physicians rather than a consumer item.
G-Tech’s Patch System will be focused on meeting market driven and clinical needs to create a new standard of care that both dramatically improves outcomes and reduces costs associated with GI conditions. The system will have the potential to transform care for patients, providers and institutions.
Gastrointestinal Motility - the movement of what begins as food through the digestive tract - is key to multiple disorders and dysfunctions experienced by tens of millions in the US. Yet there is currently no good way to measure it. The G-Tech wireless wearable patch system now under development will provide continuous monitoring of the motor activity of the digestive tract conveniently and non-invasively under realistic physiological conditions, over multiple days.
Digestive Disorders, Dysfunctions and Diseases
Patients suffering from various GI disorders at home represent a major healthcare burden and a very large market, whether it be in the form of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) or an IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). IBD affects motility even when the patient is not experiencing a flare. Aside from the 1.4 million IBD patients in the US, IBS and similar functional GI disorders are commonly accepted as affecting about 15% of the population and total over 40 million office visits a year driven by chronic abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, bloating and nausea. The problem with diagnosing, treating, and monitoring these disorders lies in the lack of a way to measure function, or motility, of the digestive system. Such information would allow physicians to pinpoint a course of treatment more quickly and effectively.
Post surgical patient monitoring and recovery
Post abdominal surgery, patients experience digestive dysfunction that often leads to development of ileus . Post-operative ileus extends hospital stay, adds thousands of dollars to the cost of care and increases the likelihood of readmission. Physicians currently lack the information required to monitor resumption of a patient’s digestive function post surgery. Having such information would help the staff to objectively determine when a patient is ready to begin feeding (and when not), whether they are progressing normally or developing post-op ileus, and when they are ready to be discharged.
