Cork's Tyndall institute develops device to detect heart disease

Researchers at Cork’s Tyndall National Institute have developed a groundbreaking handheld device that allows early stage detection of heart disease by GPs.

It means patients will no longer be required to endure lengthy hospital stays for testing to detect arterial stiffness and heart failure.

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in Ireland. This new device — a biophotonic or light-sensing instrument — could save lives, researchers say.

Using nano-scale silicon photonic microchips, the device employs laser technology to rapidly scan the characteristics of a patient’s blood flow using a technique called Doppler vibrometry.

It can accurately measure arterial stiffness and other indicators that will alert doctors to cardio stenosis (hardening of the arteries) to provide an early warning for cardiovascular disease.

Tyndall’s Peter O’Brien leads Pixapp, the world’s first photonics packaging pilot production line. He said a number of devices in development could rapidly change the nature of diagnosis.

“We are developing a number of highly advanced biophotonic devices for clinical diagnostics and minimally invasive surgical and imaging applications,” said Prof O’Brien.

“Our ability to design, integrate, and develop fully- working research prototypes using ultra-precision assembly and packaging equipment places us in a unique position to develop breakthrough biophotonic modules which are compact and highly sensitive.”

Fully-working prototypes have been undergoing clinical trials in the Paris Centre for Cardiovascular Research. The Photonic Packaging Group designed and developed the technology in its laboratories at Tyndall, while the silicon photonic microchips were fabricated at the IMEC foundry in Belgium. Medtronic oversaw specification of the system and coordinated laboratory validation and clinical trials with clinicians in Paris at Inserm.