A Medical Device Daily

Gentag (Washington) and The CORE Institute (Sun City West, Arizona) said they are collaborating to develop RFID skin patches for applications in the area of orthopedics.

The goal of the program is to facilitate post-surgery monitoring applications by physicians and patients using RFID-enabled cell phones utilizagin patents held by Gentag, its sister company Altivera and CORE, enabling physicians to monitor the status of damaged tissues using temperature, pressure and other sensors. Additionally, patients will be able to self-monitor their recovery from their homes.

The technology platform uses RFID-enabled cell phones, PDAs or wireless laptops that allow remote monitoring by physicians and hospitals, particularly during the critical first 24 hours post-injury or post-surgery.

"We believe that cell phones are the ideal tools to enable consumer-based diagnostics and that The CORE Institute has identified a unique market to illustrate how low cost RFID technologies combined with cell phones can save costs in medicine," said John Peeters, PhD, founder of Gentag.

"The CORE Institute believes that this new technology platform will not only decrease the cost of healthcare delivery, but more importantly will markedly improve patient safety and outcomes due to earlier and more accurate diagnosis of changes in a patient's condition."

Gentag and Altivera are IP companies focusing on developing low-cost wireless technologies. CORE is a private medical practice with offices throughout Arizona providing orthopedic services including patient care, research, community service and medical education.