Careful Observation of Breathing Patterns Can Reveal Various Diseases

We are increasingly seeing news reports in newspapers and on television about serious accidents caused by sleep apnea syndrome. Many of you may recall a rear-end collision late last year on a highway, where a large truck driver fell asleep at the wheel, resulting in many fatalities. In addition, incidents of Shinkansen (bullet train) drivers, airplane pilots, and air traffic controllers dozing off have also made headlines.

We have recently invented a method for monitoring respiratory movements during sleep without any physical contact with the human body and have developed a device that can actually be used in hospitals. This device is about the size of a floor lamp used in a living room. It is placed at the patient's bedside, and patients barely notice its presence, perhaps only thinking, "There's something there."

The device we developed has already been loaned out for research purposes to five hospitals, starting with our own Keio University Hospital, and its usefulness has been confirmed by doctors at all the hospitals that have trialed it. In particular, a neurosurgeon at a geriatric hospital in Niigata Prefecture, who was the first to use this device, made a very interesting presentation at an academic conference, stating, "The use of this device has revealed a deep connection between sleep apnea syndrome and senile dementia!" This spring, the patent for this device was licensed from Keio University to a major medical device manufacturer. I believe it will be about two years before it appears on the market as a commercial product. In the future, we expect it to become an indispensable device in hospitals around the world.