Eric Topol, prominent cardiologist and modern-day proselytizer of the phenomenal power of digital health and remote monitoring, took his star status up another notch when he appeared on the Colbert Show Tuesday night.

Like a zoo keeper and his menagerie of interesting animals, Topol appeared on the show armed with several medical devices he believes is leading to the creative destruction of medicine [and that is also the title of his book that Topol was promoting on the show].

There was the CellScope Oto that transformed the iPhone into an optical imaging device which any parent can use to take an optical image of the inside of their child's ear that they can share with the pediatrician for quicker diagnosis of ear infections. Topol used the device attached to the iPhone to see how Colbert's ruptured eardrum was healing. 

Another device that made an appearance was ViSi Mobile, a remote monitoring device that can track vital signs. And then there was a Topol favorite - the AliveCor EKG device that recently won FDA approval.

But perhaps the most provocative technology that Topol, chief academic officer, Scripps Health talked about was about a product that his own organization is involved in. Here's what Topol told Colbert:

"At Scripps, we are setting up a small sensor that we put into your blood stream that can sense if you are going to have a heart attack days or couple of weeks before, and give you a heart attack ring tone on your phone and warn you and prevent the heart attack."

In true Colbert fashion, every device prompted a quip but Colbert's response to the device being developed at Scripps Health was no laughing matter. Here's how Colbert challenged Topol:

"Now this information, I am sure that it's going to come down the line that the insurance companies will say "Hey, listen we'll give you a cut if you have a monitor on you, so you can stay healthier.' But then they will sell that information about your current health to other people and then I am going to get a ring tone that says, "Hey would you like 20 percent off on caskets?'"

 Watch the segment below:

 - By Arundhati Parmar, Senior Editor, MD+DI

Related Content

Qualcomm and Scripps Join Forces to Help Make 21st-Century Medicine a Reality

Paging Dr. Eric Topol: 10 Minutes with a Healthcare Revolutionary