sealPurdue News
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August 1999

Company aims to deliver information in a heartbeat

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- A Lafayette company that has developed portable heart monitors is working alongside Purdue University researchers to deliver patient information directly to the doctor's office.

Technology Transfer Inc. has set up shop in the new Purdue Technology Center to continue development on a device that, when pressed lightly against the chest, measures electrical patterns in the heart. These patterns can be printed out on a special printer and then faxed or e-mailed to a doctor.

"At the Purdue Technology Center, we plan to complete an engineering prototype of a telecommunications modem that will enable the heart rhythm information to be phoned straight to the doctor's office," said Hans Naumann, president and chief executive officer of Technology Transfer.

The company's pocket-sized electrocardiograph, called PAM (Personal Arrhythmia Monitor), was developed and patented by the Purdue Research Foundation and two Purdue professors of biomedical engineering, Leslie Geddes and Neal Fearnot.

PAM is marketed primarily to home health-care specialists and veterinarians. The device is being promoted as an efficient tool for heart monitoring not only for patients with heart diseases, but also for diabetics, drug therapy, drug detection, health physicals and general health of homebound patients.

Technology Transfer Inc. moved into its new headquarters June 29. "Entering the Purdue Technology Center allows our company to be closer to Purdue and its Hillenbrand Biomedical Engineering Center," Naumann said.

The company is working to develop a smaller version of the device that will include high-resolution displays, and improved data storage and communication capacities. The device may someday be able to monitor other functions, including blood-glucose, blood pressure, oxygenation, and body temperature and metabolic rate, Naumann said.

The Purdue Research Park, which opened in 1961, is home to 81 companies. The Technology Center there offers marketing, accounting, public relations and business strategy assistance for high-tech startup companies.

CONTACT: Naumann, (800) 457-9797; (765) 494-0887; pam@ttic.com

Compiled by Susan Gaidos, (765) 494-2081, susan_gaidos@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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