diabetes research project
diabetes research project

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South India's leading medical technology company, Chennai-based DyAnsys India, in association with Tirunelveli Medical College, has launched a scientific research project at Ariyanayakipuram village, near Tirunelveli, to study diabetes complications.

The entire adult population - around 2,300 people - will be tested for diabetes. More than 60 doctors from the Tirunelveli Medical College will assist in the study. It will be carried out in two phases - a preliminary round began on July 29, 2006.

In the first round, the entire adult population of Ariyanayakipuram will be screened for diabetes under two categories - 18 to 45 years and 45+ years - using a scientific protocol of symptomatic evidence. This has been organised at the Government High School. Several medical teams will also be stationed at 25 locations to facilitate better accessibility to the people.

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In the second round of the study, scheduled in August, those screened positively for diabetes will be put through medical test to seek confirmation of the disease. Post-confirmation, the patients will then be screened for Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy (DAN) using a new medical tool called ANSiscope.

The objective of this project is to scientifically study the prevalence of diabetes-related complications, called DAN, in the Indian adult population. DAN, commonly known as the silent killer, is a serious complication arising from diabetes and affects a whopping 40-60 per cent of diabetic patients. It is mostly undetected in the early stages and is detected only after important organs, especially the heart, are affected. In such cases, the mortality rate is as high as 50 per cent!

The leading institution on diabetes - the American Diabetes Association (ADA) - while laying down 'Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes' in 2006 has made a landmark recommendation, stating that, "Screening for autonomic neuropathy should be instituted at diagnosis of Type-2 diabetes and 5 years after the diagnosis of Type-1 diabetes." This ADA recommendation has ramifications across the world. The ANSiscope is the only medical equipment in the world that can implement ADA recommendations, the institution claimed.

ANSiTest will be conducted using ANSiscope, a new product of DyAnsys India, which won the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Award for Innovation in Healthcare.

Srini Nageshwar, CEO, DyAnsys Inc., said, "Though there has been extensive research throughout the world on diabetes and its treatment, we were the first in the world to come out with a measuring instrument for DAN. This was only possible with our unique application of mathematics to medicine. This has brought us recognition in the US in the form of the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Innovation of the Year in Healthcare for 2006."

"The ANSiscope is battery-operated, portable and affordable, specifically designed for general physicians. It helps the GP to start DAN treatment early, especially in remote places where accessibility to specialist medical care is poor," he said.

"Since the Indian subsidiary of DyAnsys is located in Chennai, we decided to launch ANSiscope in Tamil Nadu where doctors are more receptive to new advancements in medical science," Nageshwar added.

Currently, there is little testing done to detect DAN, especially outside the US, because of the complication of doing it. Since the 1930s, it was known that the variability of RR intervals (heart rate variability) is the only known indicator of ANS activity. However, because the tests were time-consuming, not easily done, heart rate variability (HRV) testing is not widespread.

Srini said ANSiscope is safe, patient-friendly and non-invasive medical equipment for detecting and screening of Diabetes Autonomic Neuropathy. It can measure the activity of both the components of the ANS - the sympathetic and the parasympathetic separately; and the balance trajectory between them. This makes accurate measurement of autonomic dysfunction (DAN in the case of diabetes) possible.

The ANSiscope is the ONLY medical instrument capable of doing so in real-time - within five minutes, he claimed. It just requires the patient to lie down during the measurement. Simple to use, it can be operated by even non-medical staff. Hand-held and battery-operated, it can be easily carried around for patient visits.

DyAnsys India Private Limited is the Indian subsidiary of DyAnsys Inc., based in the US. This young, medical technology company was set up with the aim of applying higher mathematics to non-invasive patient monitoring. The company is founded by a team of professionals drawn from the medical, mathematical and IT fields. DyAnsys set up its manufacturing facility in Chennai in 2005, where the Indian marketing, sales and R&D teams also operate. ANSiscope is DyAnsys' first product and the company plans to introduce more such innovative and revolutionary technology in future.

Srini Nageshwar

A native of Ariyanayakipuram, Srini graduated from the first batch of IIT Madras. He has had a long and illustrious career in the computer industry, including a 25-year stint with HP (in the US and Europe) and an eight-year stint with I'Omega. He took an early retirement in 1998 as senior vice-president, Europe (CEO of I'Omega Europe). After a successful career abroad, he returned to India to contribute to his home country, to the society he grew up in. In 2001, Srini founded DyAnsys Inc. with some colleagues to make a contribution in medical instrumentation. Srini is passionate about healthcare and is particularly concerned about the growing incidence of diabetes-related complications in the country. When he decided to conduct a scientific study on the prevalence of diabetes complications, he decided to conduct it in the same village where he was born.

R Rangaraj


Published on Aug 5th, 2006

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