Philips tech enables wearable light therapy device

When Philips was looking for medical applications for their flexible Ledfoil disks, they were probably hoping to find a market of more than 200 people, but luckily for sufferers of the rare Crigler-Najjar syndrome, they happened to come across Dutch student Philomeen Engels. Engels, a recent graduate of the Delft University of Technology, had the idea of creating a wearable light therapy device using the Philips tech, which would free Crigler-Najjar patients -- whose bodies cannot break down the potentially lethal red blood cell by-product called bilirubine -- from the 12 hours they must spend inside converted sunbeds each day. The device, known as the Ledwrap, contains twelve Ledfoils between two layers of cloth and can act as either a sleeping bag or a rather bulky bodysuit for more freedom of movement -- well, as much movement as an extension cord allows, since the LEDs require too much juice to run on batteries. Engels hopes to have the first Ledwraps on the market within a year, although that may be a bit optimistic, as the prototype has yet to undergo the rather non-trivial task of actual medical testing.

[rayray @ Apr 24th 2006 1:50PM]

a la Tron

[Jay @ Apr 24th 2006 2:19PM]

Is it gonna have a wicked battery pack like John T. in the Boy in the Bubble?

[Michael @ Apr 24th 2006 2:25PM]

I like the ground effects by her shoes... BLING!

[Scott @ Apr 24th 2006 3:04PM]

SUBZERO...WINS!

[Graham McLeod @ Apr 24th 2006 4:48PM]

LOL! Thanks for that laugh Scott - it was more than welcome!

[Travis Owens @ Apr 24th 2006 5:14PM]

Darn, somebody beat me to the Tron comment!

[wxrman @ Apr 24th 2006 6:15PM]

Would also be great for jogging safely at night...

...and it would be easier to play "jogger baseball"

[Tirol @ Apr 24th 2006 7:26PM]

Takes radioactive to a whole new level...

[eric @ Apr 25th 2006 1:51AM]

its targeted at fat ppl. Just look at the pic

[Tommy Mang @ Apr 25th 2006 1:17PM]

Reminds me of that guy who dresses like Tron ;-)

[Norm @ Apr 25th 2006 8:49PM]

Does it comes with a matching light cycle?

[PigTail @ Apr 29th 2006 1:40AM]

It will be super cool to show this clothes at night club!

[Techwear @ Apr 29th 2006 7:31AM]

Beside the tron fun (i love - and have to watch the movie again after years...) - is this story true? Michael

[Audrey Haskin @ Jun 15th 2006 12:45PM]

You know, Crigler-Najjar is a very real, life threatning disease. I don't appreciate the insensitive comparisons to movie and video games here. This is a product that could save some ones life. How about some respect.