Health report in bracelets ? thanks to polymers

Imagine patients wearing ECG reports and MRI scans in bracelets. That's now possible owing to advances in polymer science.

Imagine patients wearing their ECG, blood test reports and MRI scans inside bracelets.

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That has become possible thanks to advances in polymer science and nanotechnology, says Paras N Prasad, a professor at the University of Buffalo in New York.

Storing terabytes of information on a digital video disc (DVD) and wearing plastic health cards, which store X-rays, ECG, blood test reports, MRI scans and other information on bracelets is now a reality.

"These technologies have been made possible by advances in polymer science," Prasad said here while delivering a plenary lecture at Macro 2004 - an international conference on polymers for advanced technologies - organised by the Society for Polymer Science, India.

Prasad said Thursday that conventional DVDs contain only two layers while the deployment of polymeric material can create hundreds of layers, which can store terabytes of information on the same disc.

"Plastic health cards embedded on bracelets will enable a medical team to immediately attend to a patient in case of emergencies as the entire medical history of the patient is recorded in this tiny device," he said.