Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital has developed a device that can help patients on dialysis detect stenosis at home in 20 seconds, Taipei Medical University (TMU) said on Saturday.
Wanfang is one of the six affiliated hospitals of the TMU Healthcare System.
TMU displayed the non-invasive arteriovenous fistula stenosis detection device, developed by Wanfang Hospital cardiologist Chen Wei-ta (陳威達) and a team at Above Care Inc, at this year’s Taiwan Healthcare Expo, which was held at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from Thursday to Sunday.
Taiwan has a kidney disease prevalence rate of about 12 percent, with nearly 100,000 people on dialysis, Chen said.
As many patients receive hemodialysis three times a week, stenosis — or abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel — or blockage can occur easily, but it is often checked only once in three months due to insufficient examination equipment, he said.
Chen and the Above Care team developed the artificial-intelligence (AI)-based non-invasive system to help patients detect stenosis and seek treatment earlier.
It works by placing the small device on a patient’s skin to record the sound of blood flow and upload it to a cloud platform, which is automatically examined by AI.
The process takes only about 20 seconds, and the diagnosis accuracy rate is about 90 percent, Chen said.
The device is easy to operate and causes no pain — much like using a home blood pressure monitor, he said.
It is also capable of predicting changes to the arteriovenous fistula, such as when stenosis occurs, from the sound of the blood flow, he added.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of