Taiwan Biophotonic Co. (tBPC), a medical device company and the leading provider of non-invasive vital signs sensing solutions, has announced the CE marking and the debut of the industry's first finger-free wrist pulse oximeter, the oCare Pro 100, which is a quantum leap forward in the wearable healthcare and medical devices space.

tBPC's Wrist Pulse Oximeter, the oCare Pro 100, provides a non-invasive, simple and reliable method to measure and record heart rate and blood oxygen saturation on the wrist, without hindering wires and a fingertip probe that clamps on the finger. This device is designed to follow adult users for use in checking and/or recording of specific physiological parameters. These users may be in hospitals, hospital-type facilities, and a home environment. Professional users can upload timely data measured during daily activities or sleeping for physical or clinical evaluation.

Pulse oximeters have been recognized as life-saving devices for patients with chronic respiratory disease such as OSA, COPD, CHF and asthma. OSA patients with breathing problems during sleep may encounter life-threatening situations at low blood oxygen levels. These patients rely on pulse oximeters to monitor their blood oxygen level and oxygen desaturation frequency/time during sleep. For COPD patients under oxygen therapy, oxygen is best prescribed to achieve a desirable target range rather than a fixed dose of oxygen. They may have hypoxia syndrome while their blood oxygen levels are lower than 85 per cent or hypercapnia syndrome if their blood oxygen levels are higher than 95 per cent caused by oversupply of oxygen. Continuous monitoring of blood oxygen levels in these patients has been studied to be effective in detecting and preventing respiratory failure, motivating physical activity and a healthy lifestyle to reduce the symptoms of chronic disease and its co-morbidities.

Current pulse oximeters use a clip-like probe that measures the heart rate and blood oxygen level from the fingertip, making it very inconvenient for continuous monitoring. The sensor probe will interfere with the movement of fingers. It may easily fall off from the finger during daily activities or sleep. Furthermore, the sensor probe will cause finger pain or thrombosis when the probe is clamped on the finger for hours.

tBPC's oCare Pro 100 is a medical smart watch, built with a DOE Lens Reflective PPG Sensor (oCare Sensor) mounted on the bottom of watchcase, making its application site the wrist skin. The DOE Lens Reflective PPG Sensor consists of two or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) and one or more photodiode light detectors (PDs) located side-by-side on a substrate. Light beams are shone from LEDs through the skin to the arteriolar bed of the tissue. The arteriolar bed absorbs variable amounts of light during the pulsations. Changes in light absorption during the pulsing cycle are measured by the PDs as scattered light that is reflected back from the pulsating arteriolar bed. The ratio of light absorbed is translated into a measurement of heart rate and functional oxygen saturation.

"Our oCare Sensor has high lighting efficiency and less power consumption than most common reflective PPG sensors, LED and photodiode components in the market. In the oCareTM Sensor, each LED die is separately encapsulated with a cannonball-shaped lens, and the photodiode is covered by an encapsulated layer with DOE (micro-structure) surface. These lenses will enhance the LED output radiant flux by more than 50-100 per cent. The DOE will enhance the photodiode sensitivity by more than 10-50m per cent. The innovative technologies of the oCare Sensor are fully protected by tBPC's patents including Taiwan Patent No. 1477759, China Patent No. ZL201310365671.3, U.S. Patent No. 9,506,802 B2, and other Taiwan, USA. and foreign pending patents," said Dr. JC Chen, founder and president of tBPC.

The demands of today's healthcare solutions are revolutionary, varied, and challenging. Devices that were primarily found in hospitals are going to home healthcare, fitness monitoring and wellness applications. tBPC's oCare Pro 100 is poised to revolutionize healthcare, yielding significantly more insights into one's overall health status and performance than tracking heart rates alone. The blood oxygen level is actually another important vital sign which provides the health condition of both the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. tBPC's oCare Pro 100 can help users avoid life-threatening situations by checking heart rate and blood oxygen levels before starting exercise, and assist runners in maintaining healthy blood oxygen level at all times by helping them to work out properly and breathe thoroughly.