GERMANY: A new mobile phone will allow patients suffering from heart disease to be in constant contact with a doctor

Record ID: 861935

  • Title: GERMANY: A new mobile phone will allow patients suffering from heart disease to be in constant contact with a doctor
  • Date: 3rd April 2001
  • Summary: ZOOM IN ON HEARTBEAT GRAPH DISPLAY ON MONITOR (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ESSEN AND HANOVER, GERMANY
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA8F7KMMPRL5BRR22WNVY4TVP6G
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: More than 400,000 people die of heart disease in Germany every year and inventors of a new mobile phone hope to reduce that number by allowing users to be in constant contact with a doctor.
    Patients suffering from heart disease are often under a lot of stress over fears that they may experience new problems while on the move.
    Julius Szep (52) had a heart attack in 1990 and has been suffering from irregular heartbeat since. As a salesman Szep literally is mostly on the road and says he has felt dizzy and uncomfortable on numerous occasions while driving.
    "Vita Phone," a company based in the German town of Essen, will introduce a mobile telephone in spring which can transmit a heart disease sufferer's ECG to a service centre within seconds.
    From there, medical staff will be able to diagnose the patient's condition and immediately evaluate the data sent by the phone. If necessary, the medical staff can then arrange for help.
    One button on the phone automatically dials the service centre's twenty-four hour number while another records the patient's ECG. Four electrodes on the back of the phone read the patient's heartbeat as he puts the mobile phone to his chest.
    Moments later the data arrives at the "Vita Phone" service centre and medical staff can then discuss the patient's condition.
    The "heart telephone" is also equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) which allows the phone's user to be located in a case of emergency by sending out a constant beacon.
    "Vita Phone" says the telephone's price will be around 1,500 German Marks (680 U.S. dollars), with a monthly fee of 99 German Marks (45 U.S. dollars).
    Visitors at the CeBIT annual computer fair in Hanover got a first glance of the "heart phone" recently as its makers were one of 8,100 exhibitors from around the world to present their lastest innovations.
    CeBIT claims to be the world' largest computer fair and multimedia mobile telephones were the focus of attention this year.
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