IIT-M scientists develop screening device to assess blood vessel health

CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras Researchers have developed a novel, non-invasive device to assess the health and age of blood vessels and thereby provide early screening for cardiovascular diseases.

Called ARTSENS®, it is designed such that it can be used in routine medical examinations by even non-experts, to assess and predict vascular health, a release from IIT-Madras said here on Monday.

It is powered by a proprietary non-imaging probe and an intelligent computing platform and is developed by the Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC) at IIT Madras.

The device has been assessed on more than 5,000 human subjects. The technology already has five utility patents in the US, European Union and India, 10 design patents and awaits awarding of 28 patents in various jurisdictions.

The product is ready for technology transfer and commercialization after extensive testing. The IIT Madras team intends to deploy this to conduct over a million vascular screenings per year.

The technology and field results of this device have already been published in over 100 scientific peer-reviewed publications. The research was led by Dr Jayaraj Joseph, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras.

The paper in the Journal of Hypertension was co-authored by Dr PM Nabeel, Lead Research Scientist, HTIC-IIT Madras, Mr V Raj Kiran, PhD Scholar, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, and Dr Jayaraj Joseph.

Despite tremendous improvements in treatments and procedures, heart and blood vessel-related diseases continue to be the leading cause of death throughout the world. Early detection and timely intervention is the key.