News from MWA: HD Medical Introduces Stethoscope to the 21st Century

They are one of the last surviving relics of 19^th century medicine.

Invented in 1816 by French physician René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec, the stethoscope has remained fairly consistent in design over the last 150 years.

The first concept recognizable by modern-day standards was patented in 1851 by Cincinnati, Ohio, physician Nathan Marsh, whose rubber device consisted of a wooden bell attached to a long stem. At the time, Marsh’s invention was considered a significant leap forward in stethoscope technology, but the product was heavy, fragile and not very durable.

The first practical stethoscope followed a year later, courtesy of New York physician George P. Cammann. His device featured earpieces to amplify sound, double metal tubes, a hinge joint and an elastic band for tension. Though he never patented his idea, Cammann’s model became the de facto design on which most stethoscopes were based for the next century.

The technology remained virtually unchanged until the 1960s when Harvard cardiologist David Littmann, M.D., designed a stethoscope with a double chestpiece for high- and low-pitched sounds, longer-lasting tubing, a more practical length and a tension spring to hold the earpieces at a comfortable distance. His device also was lightweight and easier to carry in a clinical setting than any other previous model.

This year, the stethoscope is getting a 21^st-century makeover from HD Medical Inc. The Sunnyvale, Calif., cardiac device designer and developer has devised the ViScope and ViScope MD—stethoscopes with integrated visual displays and improved audio that allow doctors to “see” the heart sounds they hear in real-time visual waveforms. The ViScope visual display is complemented by high-fidelity sound quality and amplification up to 30 times louder than a traditional scope.

HD Medical demonstrated the ViScope during the inaugural three-day Medical World Americas (MWA) Conference and Expo in Houston, Texas, this week (April 28-30). Held on the doorstep of the 21-hospital Texas Medical Center at the George R. Brown Convention Center, the event was modeled after Messe Düsseldorf’s Medica conference, the world’s largest medical tradeshow. Like its German counterpart, MWA combined a conference program with a daily expo showcasing the latest medical devices and cutting-edge products. Nearly 130 exhibitors peddled their wares to roughly 1,700 clinicians, medtech executives, medical students and other healthcare industry professionals who attended the show, a collaborative effort between the Texas Medical Center, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Messe Düsseldorf North America.

MWA’s conference sessions covered topics in five key areas—cardiology, oncology, hospital disaster preparedness, healthcare-associated infections, and hospital occupational health and safety. Experts discussed life science innovation, big data and trends influencing the future of medicine during the event’s five plenary sessions.

“HD Medical joins a roster of thought leaders and innovators in the medical landscape from across the world,” MWA marketing director Christian Piencka said. “The caliber of organizations involved and the diversity of our attendees and exhibitors is sure to make this event a premiere platform for advancing patient care.”

HD Medical’s ViScope is helping to advance patient care with its ability to record the first heart sounds, which often are the most telling for healthcare professionals. The scope’s heart sound recordings can be transferred to a PC configured with the ViScope bundled software to access a tunable filter that allows clinicians to choose specific parts of the heart sound in which to listen, such as S1/S2, S3/S4, etc.

“ViScope records and documents heart anomalies for today’s evidence-based world, enabling it to serve as a stethoscope modality for electronic medical records,” said Muthu Krishnan, senior vice president of business development for HD Medical. “Additionally, ViScope performs remote patient monitoring support telemedicine applications for rapid patient screenings.”

The ViScope MD can detect heart murmurs and record 10-second waveform samples to be further analyzed or compared with a normal heart rate.

The ViScope has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance and is undergoing certification for CE compliance.