Italian startup Almawave uses AI wearable to monitor COVID-19 patients -study

The technology, called RicovAI-19, analyzes each individual patient's condition, diagnosis and prognosis, and whether they are suffering from COVID-19 or other ailments.

Medical staff wearing protective masks, glasses and suits treat a patient suffering from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in an intensive care unit at the Oglio Po hospital in Cremona, Italy March 19, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/FLAVIO LO SCALZO)
Medical staff wearing protective masks, glasses and suits treat a patient suffering from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in an intensive care unit at the Oglio Po hospital in Cremona, Italy March 19, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/FLAVIO LO SCALZO)

Italian artificial intelligence company Almawave launched a pilot study in April for a wearable technology that uses AI to support patients and medical workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study, a collaboration between the company and Polytechnic University of the Marche, Ancona Riuniti Hospital, ASUR Marche, Vivisol and Aditech, was published on medRxiv as a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The study was co-authored by Marco Mazzanti from the Cardiac Imaging Department at the Barts Heart Centre Foundation Trust in London; Aldo Salvi, an internal medicine practitioner from the Emergency Department at Ospedali Riuniti Hospital in Ancona, Italy; and Stefania Giacomini, a general physician specializing in territorial medicine at Azienda Sanitaria Unica Regionale (ASUR).

Medical workers in protective suits treat patients suffering with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Rome, Italy (credit: GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE / REUTERS)
Medical workers in protective suits treat patients suffering with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Rome, Italy (credit: GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE / REUTERS)

The technology, called RicovAI-19, analyzes each individual patient's condition, including blood pressure, respiratory rate, body temperature and oxygen saturation, as well as the patient's specific diagnosis and prognosis, and whether they are suffering from COVID-19 or other ailments.

RicovAI-19 also calculates and sends clinical stability indicators to medical staff so that they can diagnose patients and prescribe treatment.

It uses a mobile app and a portable device, which will be available for patients to access for free.

The aim of the technology is to reduce emergency room traffic and to "rethink remote medical assistance and the territorial health care model in general," the study said.