摘要：We developed a telemedicine instrument for home monitoring of subjects with respiratory
diseases. The instrument directly measures blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate, but the most
relevant aspect is that it also acts as digital recorder of parameters coming from several external
instruments (spirometer, capnometer, NIBP device, etc.). It also connects to all pulmonary ventilators.
The instrument main board includes five slots, which are used to insert the measuring boards
(saturation and ventilation boards) and the interface boards (connecting the external instruments).
Depending on patient’s needs, only the proper measuring/interface boards are mounted, thus allowing
maximum flexibility and cost saving. The instrument has several I/O units, and especially
an internal modem for direct connection to the Internet through TCP/IP protocol. The instrument
was extensively tested, and preliminary trials were performed over fifteen patients with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis.
