
Ask HN: Seeking advice for the next steps of a health care side project - JPLeRouzic
Dear HNers, I am asking your advice for the next strategic steps about a half finished side project in health care.<p>Once a company asked for ideas about a COPD and Heart Failure early detector. I submitted my idea (based on Physionet 2016 competition), but the company then asked for a proof of concept. I had none, so I decided to make my own and make it public. I would be happy if it would be copied widely.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hackaday.io&#x2F;project&#x2F;19685-early-and-low-cost-detection-of-heart-failure<p>The PoC was developped in Java, uses ML and works well enough for me. I have a clear idea how to extend it to detect fibrous tissues in the heart and possibly in lungs. I have confidence that I can develop this, all by myself in the C language, embed it in a self contained $150 device and market it.<p>However several things worry me:<p>* Having a health detector is nice but is the information really useful?<p>* How to get a market authorization with little resources?<p>* What strategies about next steps, in particular I am thinking about a much more ambitious detector. Some guys, inspired by the Star Trek Tricorder and Qualcomm prize, already had wonderful ideas.<p>* A comfortable possibility would be to integrate an existing organization (I worked for 35 years in a large company).<p>Thanks for any suggestion.
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jwilliams
I've known a few people go through this. One product was something that
detected when someone hasn't moved in bed for a period of time. This can be
used to prevent bedsores.

They found the regulatory environment absolutely crippling. After banging
their head against the wall too long, they eventually gave up.

I'd say going with an experienced incubator/mentor/etc in this space would be
a great idea. [https://rockhealth.com/](https://rockhealth.com/) is one good
example. They can give you access to health care companies, networks, mentors,
etc.

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JPLeRouzic
Thank you very much for the feedback and the Rockhealth pointer.

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jwilliams
No problem! Good luck with the product.

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tixocloud
I have a friend who's been working on a healthcare-related startup (smart baby
mat). When I used to help out, I remember it being quite complex as he's gone
to hospitals to help him perform some clinical trials before going to market.
If you'd like, I can put you in touch with him.

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JPLeRouzic
That is very nice, you can drop a message at:

[https://padiracinnovation.org/feedback/](https://padiracinnovation.org/feedback/)

or connect through LinkedIn:

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-pierre-le-
rouzic-39a72295/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-pierre-le-rouzic-39a72295/)

Many thanks

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somid3
Hi, I have a lot of commercialization background in this space - this is me -
[http://linkedin.com/in/somid3/](http://linkedin.com/in/somid3/) \- shoot me a
msg at somid3 at google's email service dot com

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JPLeRouzic
Thanks for this reply, I really appreciate it.

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Jugurtha
I've worked a bit on ECG signals (Physionet, too). You may want to take a look
at:

\- "Baseline Correction with Asymmetric Least Squares Smoothing" by Paul H. C.
Eilers and Hans F.M. Boelens[0]. They used it for chromatography and
spectroscopy but I've had great results applying that to detect and remove the
baseline from ECG. The article provides 11 lines of MATLAB code to illustrate.

\- Savitzky-Golay filter: For smoothing. I liked it for some of the noisy
signals.

\- Poincaré plot for RR intervals.

[0]:
[https://zanran_storage.s3.amazonaws.com/www.science.uva.nl/C...](https://zanran_storage.s3.amazonaws.com/www.science.uva.nl/ContentPages/443199618.pdf)

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JPLeRouzic
Thanks for your detailled answer and those pointers, I appreciate this.

I am using phonocardiograms (PCG) not ECG but the processing is quite similar.
In my case I record PCG with ultrasound Doppler but a mere microphone could do
the job as well.

I think I went further than detecting the heart's rate and variability, as I
try to recognise each heart sound (S1 ... S4) inside a beat and I developped a
technique for having a beat signature in order to apply ML on the sequence of
beats with HMM.

This beat signature technique could certainly be applied to ECG. It could
probably even be used for any series of events.

However my problem is not technical, it is about raising awareness, getting
help (including resources) and get strategic advising.

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mchannon
Did the company that inspired you suddenly stop being interested in you, even
if you had a proof of concept?

The profit motive means technology works as follows, particularly in health
care: if you can build it and corner a healthy market, shut up and take my
money. If you want to give it away or sell it as a loss, please leave a
message at the beep.

Don't worry about building in all kinds of bells and whistles. Sounds like
what little you have is more than good enough- call that company back and stop
acting so profligate with the IP if you want them to throw the marketing and
compliance resources at a project that desperately needs them.

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JPLeRouzic
Thanks for the nice feedback. I am more searching help than trying to make a
profit.

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mchannon
You're welcome, but I don't think you got my point. The help you seek is one
and the same with someone making a profit.

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JPLeRouzic
Ah good point, I will think about it!

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itamarst
Keep in mind that selling something like this would quite likely involve an
expensive FDA regulatory process. So probably not something you can do as a
side project.

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JPLeRouzic
Thanks for the feedback! I guess it would be nice if I got some help from a
large organization. Another possibility seems to _not_ claim to be a medical
device, or to be similar to an existing one which is well known. For example
it seems stethoscopes are no more regulated.

