Resmetrix Medical  has developed a device that it says allows respiratory patients to monitor their condition at home so they can detect early signs of exacerbation, preventing deterioration as well as costly hospitalizations.

In a phone interview, Resmetrix’s CEO Carmit Levy said the firm has developed a unique stretchable sensor that accurately and continuously monitors the wearer’s respiratory pattern. The device is a chest strap that connects wirelessly to a smartphone application with cloud-based analysis, she said.

“We are aiming to monitor respiratory disease patients” in order to detect early signs of deterioration in their respiratory status, thereby allowing doctors to treat them faster and possibly eliminating the need for hospitalization and the costs related to complications, she said.

The sensor keeps track of respiratory pattern, detecting such developments as changes in chest circumference and other parameters such as “relative tidal volume” — air volume in the lungs at different moments of the respiratory cycle — along with heart rate and body temperature.