Medical Monitoring Systems Evolve to Cater for the Aging Population

Thursday 25 October 2012, Amsterdam

The evolution of medical monitoring devices is spurring on developments in the semiconductor industry, states a new report by business experts.

The new report states that semiconductors form an essential element in many patient monitoring devices, and the pressure is on to better serve individuals with smaller, faster, and more advanced gizmos.

The global population is aging and the prevalence of chronic diseases is growing, so the demand for healthcare services is interminably increasing. As many national healthcare programs attempt to cut expenditure, there is a growing need for reliable and cost-effective technology to provide round-the-clock observation of critically ill patients, and the use of technology could help to alleviate staffing pressures.

Patient monitoring can track an individual’s blood pressure, temperature, oxygen saturation, or respiration, and can also offer data conversion, processing and controlling. Semiconductors are embedded in patient monitoring devices, and are critically important for the device to operate. The sale of semiconductors therefore increases as the demand for patient monitoring devices climbs. Developments in semiconductor technologies also mean leaps and bounds in progress for patient monitoring abilities.

Small and portable patient monitoring devices represent an improvement in a patient’s quality of life, as they allow treatment to be conducted in more convenient locations – at home or elsewhere. Semiconductor components are therefore steadily shrinking to meet this need, becoming more compact in order to downsize the monitoring equipment. The miniaturization of patient monitoring devices, obtained through cutting-edge semiconductor technology, opens the possibility of mounting equipment within mobile clinics, ambulances and doctors’ offices. Thin-film capacitors, resistors and substrate technologies, alongside System-in-Package (SiP) IC technology and high-energy batteries can help in this.

Analysis expect the market for semiconductors in patient monitoring devices to grow at a high rate over the next few years, from $1.8 bn in 2011 to $2.4 bn by 2015. This will be due to their increasing number of applications in various patient monitoring devices, and the growing demand for telehealth monitoring services and wireless devices. The global market is expected to change significantly, with developing countries in Asia-Pacific emerging as a powerful rival to the matured market in North America.