With Stemoscope ausculation offers advantages in Covid19 patient
A year ago I jumped into a Kickstarter Project. Ordered 2 copies of the Stemoscope. The stemoscope instead of the Stethoscope. Indeed. I interviewed the founder Junfeng Zhao in Shanghai, China (Skype). Tried the stemoscope myself in different situations. Published an article. Who would have expected that the Stemoscope would become world news a year later. I had contact with Junfeng again several times. I think in the Netherlands (and Europe) we are just waiting for this device. We also can learn from experiences in China. People in China are willing to share there knowledge.
Highlights
The Medical Team from Shanghai General Hospital has deployed a unique weapon. Listen!
(audio mp3=”https://reportersonline.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/covid-19.5.mp3″(/audio)
Audio
These sounds (audio file ) are from a serious CoviD19 patient in Wuhan, China. It is not easy to get such a registration because fully secured doctors, like doctor Zhang, cannot use their traditional stethoscope. To obtain such registrations, a stemoscope is used by the Medical Team operating on a 5G medical platform. It allows doctors to do real-time auscultation on the smartphone. Barring lung noises, it can also detect heart tones and position of the feeding tube. And in this way this contributes to monitoring the patients disease status.
Diagnosis
Listening to (and recording) the sounds on the mobile phone, breath sounds of ill patients can be collected. Suppose oxygen (saturation) is plummeting, it is possible to immediately differentiate between stuck mucus or wheezing. Treatment is quite different. The device is also very helpful for the (daily) clinical rounds. Because audio sounds forestall radiologic improvement, patients can earlier leave the Intensive Care. A very important issue these days!
Cross infections
Believe me, face masks and hand washing are helpful in fighting the disease. This has been proven in Wuhan. The audio registration was given by a doctor. The sounds were recorded in the IC where it is busy. The stemoscope is used in the daily routine rounds. In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) the risk of cross-infection is very high and the doctors are fully dressed in protective clothing. They can’t use the traditional stethoscopes. No artificial intelligence has been used till now. The sounds are being recorded and the doctors can discuss the sounds through their 5G medical communication platform There are some characteristics of the breath sounds of Covid19 patients. This will be published soon . Given the low cost and ease of use, the Stemoscope can be very helpful in Europe for monitoring Covid19 patients at the ICU and at home. Or in the large sportfacilities where they will be group-isolated. The patients might even record their lung sounds and heart tones themselves and send them to the doctor. Remote analysis (eHealth). If medical support is limited, some volunteers in China will do the Dutch analysis.
Avoid friction
The purpose of the fixation of the Stemoscope with a band on the back is to avoid friction and operations on the IC. Caregivers sometimes don’t listen in real time, but record it to listen back later. With a fixed stethoscope good sound quality is ensured. This is also applicable in the home situation. You just have to fix the stemoscope in the right place and then pick up.
Audio file
The typical sounds can be heard when the COVID19 patient inhales. At a certain moment a sound as if someone is walking on snow. It swells until someone exhales. We know the sound as a physician of chronic interstitial lung abnormalities. But here it arises in a short time. The extent to which there are specific characteristics in the audiogram and in the course of time is something for further investigation. The sound comes from alveoli (alveoli)
Stemoscope
The Stemoscope senses the sounds from the inside and transmit the digitalized signals to a smartphone. The specially designed App further processes the audio signals to make it visible and more audible.
COVID19
The prognosis of the Coronavirus is believed to be largely determined by a possible double pneumonia. This inflammation of the alveoli leads to the escape of fluid, collaps of the alveoli and destruction of lungcells. Oxygen intake is impeded. As a consequence breathing becomes frequent. Because of exhaustion and hypoxia, respiratory support is necessary.
