Courtesy of Evena Medical
Wearable ultrasound glasses take the guesswork out of IV placement
November 19, 2015
by Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief
Evena Medical has launched a pair of smart glasses that could transform the way health care professionals conduct the most common invasive medical procedure in the world; inserting an IV. With deep tissue vascular imaging capabilities as well as ultrasound, the company's Eyes-On Glasses version 3.0 are designed to take the guesswork out of needle placement.
"It's not just for hard-to-stick patients, we want to allow for precision access points and finding the best way to get an IV started — that's one of the first use cases," David Gruebele, CFO of Evena Medical, told HCB News. The glasses, which feature a patent-pending design incorporating multispectral light imaging and two small, hyper sensitive cameras, were being showcased at MEDICA.
The second major use case is ultrasound, said Gruebele, indicating the attachable transducer. "It's very simple with one button, and we can see it on the tablet or through these glasses," he explained, emphasizing that the glasses still allow for eye contact and situational awareness.
Like a rearview camera in a car, the projection in the lenses is transparent over the actual window of the lenses so it doesn't obstruct normal vision.
The multispectral LED lights, situated on the temples of the glasses, generate four discrete wavelengths. Some of the light are absorbed while others are scattered back to the cameras, explained Gruebele.
The glasses were designed to be used by primary care physicians and other medical professionals who may not be specially trained to conduct ultrasound. Like a stethoscope, the ultrasound is intended as a front-line tool for relatively basic assessments.
The accompanying tablet system, which has already been approved by the FDA and Chinese regulatory bodies, serves as a predicate to the glasses. Because of that, Gruebele is optimistic that obtaining approval for the glasses will be a relatively straight-forward process once they decide to file.
The version showcased at MEDICA is a pre-production prototype and the version that goes to market will probably be a bit more polished, he said. Evena showcased an earlier model of the glasses at last year's exhibition.
"This model is smaller, lighter, and has new processing built-in. We are running the same light engines that we ran before but the camera system has been miniaturized and is now on a chip," said Gruebele. "We have also improved battery life, and made it lighter."
As the company moves forward they hope to add new applications to the system, eventually opening an app store where users can select from a range of capabilities.
"It's not just for hard-to-stick patients, we want to allow for precision access points and finding the best way to get an IV started — that's one of the first use cases," David Gruebele, CFO of Evena Medical, told HCB News. The glasses, which feature a patent-pending design incorporating multispectral light imaging and two small, hyper sensitive cameras, were being showcased at MEDICA.
The second major use case is ultrasound, said Gruebele, indicating the attachable transducer. "It's very simple with one button, and we can see it on the tablet or through these glasses," he explained, emphasizing that the glasses still allow for eye contact and situational awareness.
Like a rearview camera in a car, the projection in the lenses is transparent over the actual window of the lenses so it doesn't obstruct normal vision.
The multispectral LED lights, situated on the temples of the glasses, generate four discrete wavelengths. Some of the light are absorbed while others are scattered back to the cameras, explained Gruebele.
The glasses were designed to be used by primary care physicians and other medical professionals who may not be specially trained to conduct ultrasound. Like a stethoscope, the ultrasound is intended as a front-line tool for relatively basic assessments.
The accompanying tablet system, which has already been approved by the FDA and Chinese regulatory bodies, serves as a predicate to the glasses. Because of that, Gruebele is optimistic that obtaining approval for the glasses will be a relatively straight-forward process once they decide to file.
The version showcased at MEDICA is a pre-production prototype and the version that goes to market will probably be a bit more polished, he said. Evena showcased an earlier model of the glasses at last year's exhibition.
"This model is smaller, lighter, and has new processing built-in. We are running the same light engines that we ran before but the camera system has been miniaturized and is now on a chip," said Gruebele. "We have also improved battery life, and made it lighter."
As the company moves forward they hope to add new applications to the system, eventually opening an app store where users can select from a range of capabilities.