Article source: Deborah Borfitz, Diagnostics World; Image source: Alimetry
A medical technology startup based in Auckland, New Zealand, expects its pioneering Gastric Alimetry wearable device for diagnosing gut disorders will one day do for gastroenterology what ECG testing for heart abnormalities has done for cardiology. The “body surface gastric mapping” (BSGM) test involves placing a sticky patch of sensors and a recording device onto the skin overlying the stomach and measures the underlying gastric electrical activity.
The Gastric Alimetry system already received marketing approval from regulators in the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand, and over the summer the company (Alimetry) opened its second corporate office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The platform is currently being used in clinical practice to differentiate between chronic nausea and vomiting syndromes (NVSs) that originate in the gut and those that arise through a centrally mediated pathway—a phenotype often tied to anxiety and depression, says Peng Du, Ph.D., associate director of research at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute at the University of Auckland and chair of Alimetry’s Scientific Advisory Board.