Elegant Medical to receive patent for groundbreaking Stethos electronic stethoscope

Dec 3 2014

Elegant Medical LLC today announced it will receive an issued patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office for its groundbreaking Stethos™ electronic stethoscope, the most significant advancement to the stethoscope in half a century.

Stethos™ simple design delivers an innovative approach to monitoring, recording and playing back lung and heart sounds, engineered to promote improved diagnostics while disposable attachments help decrease the spread of infection. The device integrates seamlessly into bedside monitors in Intensive Care Units and Operating Rooms, can store sounds into electronic health records, and has significant potential in telemedicine.

Dr. Joseph Habboushe, inventor of Stethos™, recognized the need for a modernized stethoscope with superior sound fidelity and ease of use.

"Unlike so much of medicine, the stethoscope hasn't changed in decades. It has fallen out of favor with many doctors and nurses in the ICU and OR due to issues with sound quality and sterility. Stethos™ is designed to decrease hospital-acquired infection, while improving the accuracy of the exam. It saves clinicians time by integrating into the bedside monitor for continuous automated diagnostics – just like the pulse oximeter, blood pressure, and heart monitor."

The Stethos™ electronic stethoscope is intended to provide significant value to domestic and international healthcare sectors by reducing morbidity, mortality and cost through earlier detection of both emergent and chronic conditions.

A recent Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital study demonstrated superior diagnostics, cutting in half the misdiagnosis rate compared with the traditional stethoscope. The device was also rated higher by clinicians on key parameters such as ease of use, potential to impact care, potential to reduce infection, and utility as a teaching instrument.

Dr. Jarone Lee, Principle Investigator of the Harvard study which was recently published in a peer reviewed journal, believes Stethos™ could become a new standard:

"Stethos has proven itself to be a disruptive technology in medical diagnostics. With its intuitive design and ability to record and play back sounds with modified speed and pitch, its diagnostic value is incredible. On top of that, it may save lives by curbing the spread of infection in hospitals." The CDC estimates that hospital-acquired infection leads to 770,000 extended hospital stays, 75,000 patient deaths, and $4.5 billion in healthcare costs annually in the US alone.

With an issued patent for Stethos™, Elegant Medical is now setting its sights on unmet needs in three separate markets, with an estimated aggregate market potential of $10 billion. "We've begun conversations with major hospitals to assess opportunities for pilots," said Dr. Aman Aminzay of the Stethos™ development team, "as we hoped and expected, there is overwhelming interest as we are addressing true pain points for clinicians."

Elegant Medical is currently raising Series A funding to develop a market-ready, second-generation Stethos™ unit which can be implemented in hospitals throughout the U.S. and abroad.