Health

High-Tech Health Products

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 15, 1999 / 6:12 PM EST / CBS

Some new medical technologies have just arrived or are on the horizon.

Health Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay reports on some of the latest devices for The Early Show.

RELIEFBAND

This is a watch-like device that combines acupuncture and electrical stimulation to control nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, motion sickness, or morning sickness.

Instructions:

Find the spot on the underside of the wrist between the two tendons.

Wipe the area with the alcohol wipe in the package.

Apply some gel on the area.

Put the wristband on.

Turn the dial to start the electrical stimulation. (A green light will flash.)

Spin the dial to find the level comfortable for you.

Batteries in the band send out a low-level electrical signal to the nerves in the wrist. This seems to block the nausea signals that the stomach is sending to the brain.

There are three levels of band at this time - one to be worn two days and discarded, another to be worn six days, and also a rechargeable version that can be taken on and off - just reapply the

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gel each time.
The disposable version is being used for chemotherapy patients and pregnant women with severe morning sickness.

It's being tested on patients who wear the band for 48 hours after surgery and throw it away.

Last spring an over-the-counter version was approved for motion sickness that people might get traveling in a car or on an airplane.

You can get it by mail order or over the Internet for about $85 and it should be available in drug stores in the near future. Some people have experienced some skin irritation but few side effects are evident so far.

The Food and Drug Administration approved this device for prescription use in January.

SYNTHETIC SKIN

Apligraf is a product that contains living skin cells that can be used to cover sores - and eventually burns and other wounds to the skin.

It's contained in a large petri dish with a pink nutrient to preserve it until it's put on the patient.

The device has two layers just like regular skin, but it doesn't have the blood vessels, hair or sweat glands that regular skin has.

It will pick up the skin color (pigment) of the patient and the patient's blood vessels will grow into it. So there is no need to match blood type or skin pigmentation.

It's approved for treating leg ulcers at the moment but is expected to be useful for burns and could replace some skin grafts.

Apligraf was approved last year.

SPERM COUNT TEST

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The FertilMAR-Q tests male fertility in the privacy of the home.

FertilMAR-Q is a home testing kit to determine male fertility. It is similar to a female ovulation or pregnancy test. The idea is to be able to test fertility in the privacy of your home.

The guideline is 20 million sperm per milliliter and this kit would indicate if you're over or under that amount. But it won't tell you the quality of your sperm; you have to go to a doctor for that.

Instructions:

Collect the semen in a special cup that helps liquefy the semen so it can be tested.

Put a drop in "Well B" on the test strip using an enclosed dropper.

Add two drops of the blue fluid, a dye, and two drops of the clear fluid.

Wait at least a minute.

If the sample is the same blue or darker than the control in "Well A," the sperm count is good.

If it's lighter, do the test again and maybe consult your doctor; you can do two tests.

The kit is not yet available over the counter in stores but will be next year for about $25 a kit.

The FDA approved it this spring for professional use.

OSTEOPATCH

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The Osteopatch tests bone density.

Currently blood tests and bone density screenings are the best way to screen for bone loss in women, but now testing can be done much more easily.

Osteopatch is a pad specially made to allow sweat to evaporate normally while leaving enough molecules caught in the absorbent pad.

It works best if worn on the back or lower stomach, away from sunlight. And people can bathe and exercise while wearing it.

Instructions:

Clean the area with alcohol.

Stretch the skin a little and then apply the patch.

Wear it for one to five days.

Remove and send to a lab for analysis.

This product is in clinical trials but if approved, it could be a very convenient and accurate way to monitor bone loss.

And it may even become available over the counter for about $40, say the manufacturers.

HOME CHOLESTEROL TEST

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"Good" cholesterol can be measured with this kit.

Cholesterol levels are important indicators of a person's risk for heart disease. There have been home testing kits on the market for several years that can test your total cholesterol levels. But there is "good" cholesterol and "bad" cholesterol, or HDL and LDL.

Now one company, TCPI, is coming on the market with a new total cholesterol kit and wants to market it with another kit that measures HDL cholesterol, or the "good" cholesterol.

Measuring "good" cholesterol is a better indicator of future heart disease in many ways.

Instructions:

Prick your finger with instrument included in the package.

Fill a dropper as far up as the black dot. (The dropper is held steady by a square of cardboard.)

Tip the blood out of the dropper onto the test strip circle.

Wait three minutes.

Turn the test strip over and match the color against a color chart.

If the color chart shows you the "good" cholesterol is too low, you have a problem even if your total cholesterol is within normal limits.

This kit has not been approved yet.

OSSIGEL

This is an injection that can help fresh bone fractures heal more quickly. It contains a gel naturally found in joints and a protein that is released by the body to aid healing.

This is a gel that could be kept in a hospital emergency room for use when setting a bone fracture. Doctors already inject painkillers into broken bones, and should this device be approved, it would now add another injection.

A preliminary study found that fractures were 85 percent stronger after healing with this injection than those without it. If these figures hold up, the device should be in emergency rooms in the next couple of years.