A 15-centimeter wireless sensor patch, recently approved by the FDA, holds the promise of reducing hospitalizations by allowing automated early detection of heart failure. The noninvasive device, which is taped to a patient's chest, monitors indicators of heart health--including heart and respiration rates, levels of patient activity, and even the accumulation of body fluid--as patients go about their daily lives.

Part of a technology platform now being marketed by Corventis, a startup in San Jose, CA, the waterproof sensor patch beams data to a special cell-phone-like gadget in the patient's pocket or home. From there, the data is wirelessly transmitted to the company's servers. Algorithms detect anomalies and trigger alerts to doctors, who could then view the data from the Web or from their own mobile devices.

some technologies exist that can do much of the same job, they are bulky and impractical or must be surgically implanted.

This is much more unobtrusive in people's daily lives