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Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Can you old Gameboy be a savior ?

I read recently about this professor, Marcel Cremmel, in Strasbourg, France who, in order to help his brother who was in Madagascar and hit with Paludism, had to think of a way to devise a cheapo cardiograph. In his words «Tout a démarré par une visite chez mon frère à Madagascar. Il sortait d'une crise de paludisme assez aiguë et on lui avait prescrit un médicament qui peut avoir des inconvénients au niveau cardiaque». The medicine given to patients hit with Paludism is the Halofantrine which can trigger cardiac issues and therefore there is need for a way to measure heart rythms. The old GameBoy console just needs some reengineering to provide the needed measurement. According to this article (my translation) the console itself is not changed in the process, only the cartridge is modified. The new card is connected to three electrodes which are themselves connected to one foot and the two wrists. This set-up enables one to see on the screen if the heart is releasing itself right and at the right time after its contraction.

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