By Lauren Brown The Guardian A machine to help people with high blood pressure stop having to wear a mask has been developed by a doctor in Australia.
Dr Peter Moulton of the Queensland Health Authority said he and his team had used the blood pressure device to help hundreds of patients at the local hospital, and the results were encouraging.
Dr Moultons team used a machine that was able to automatically read the heart rate and send a warning when blood pressure had increased to normal.
“There are a number of patients in the ICU and they have a blood glucose level of around 130mg/dl, but the machine was able tell me that they had had a blood sugar of 160 mg/dl,” he said.
“That is not normal, so it is not really appropriate for them to have a mask, but they have had a lot of symptoms that could cause blood clots and they need to have it removed.”
So, the machine is a very helpful device and we think it could be useful for a lot more patients, particularly in those who have high blood pressures.
“The device was first developed by the University of Queensland in 2004, but was only recently approved by the Australian government for use in the UK and the US.
Dr Paul Williams, a professor of medicine at the University’s School of Medicine, said the device could potentially help thousands of people in Australia, but added that the benefits of it were “limited”.”
If the device can help a lot and there is no side effects, I would love to see it implemented in the US, where there are many more patients,” he told the ABC.”
The problem with it is the FDA says that it’s not appropriate for humans to have, so they need a machine to make sure they’re not putting themselves at risk.
“But it’s great that it is getting approved and it’s certainly being tested in the USA.”