- Title: Algorithm-based sensors designed for 24/7 post-op monitoring
- Date: 9th January 2018
- Summary: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (NOVEMBER 28, 2017) (REUTERS) ESKE AASVANG, HEAD OF RESEARCH AT RIGSHOSPITALET, SPEAKING TO 'PATIENT' AASVANG ATTACHING SENSOR TO 'PATIENT' CLOSE-UP OF AASVANG SENSOR FLASHING ON 'PATIENT'S' CHEST (SOUNDBITE) (English) ESKE AASVANG, HEAD OF RESEARCH AT RIGSHOSPITALET, SAYING: "Normally what happens after surgery is that you go to the ward and there you have monitoring by the nurses at fixed time intervals, and regularly it's 12 hours in-between. This of course means you only get snapshots of how the patient is doing. So lots of things can happen in between these measurements. Everything might be fine but you really don't know this. It's like flying with your eyes blind and only opening them every 12 hours." 'PATIENT' LYING DOWN VARIOUS OF MONITORS ON HANDS 'PATIENT' VARIOUS OF SENSOR FLASHING ON 'PATIENT'S' CHEST AASVANG AND 'PATIENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ESKE AASVANG, HEAD OF RESEARCH AT RIGSHOSPITALET, SAYING: "One example is the patient where you have perfect normal values at around noon. You come back 12 hours later, everything looks fine. But if you had monitored the patient continuously you would have detected that they actually might have had a one hour dip of their saturation to a very low level, a level that might have caused myocardial damage and other problems. Another example is the patient where you come in again at noon when the patient has come to the ward and you go back again 12 hours later as with the normal rounds of the hospital like ours and you might find that everything was fine around noon, but 12 hours later the patient is doing quite badly on all parameters." PATIENT LYING DOWN WITH SENSORS FLASHING SENSOR ON CHEST AASVANG WITH PATIENT AASVANG HOLDING COMPUTER TABLET AASVANG
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2018 10:39
- Keywords: cancer abdominal cancer sensors wear and forget DTU Rigshospitalet surgery
- Location: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK / FILE LOCATIONS
- City: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK / FILE LOCATIONS
- Country: Denmark
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA0017XE3OEZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:**PLEASE NOTE: THE SEQUENCES IN THE HOSPITAL BED WERE SIMULATED, WITH A VOLUNTEER - NOT A REAL PATIENT**
Danish researchers are developing algorithms that work in conjunction with existing 'wear and forget' sensors to monitor the vital signs of cancer patients continuously after surgery.
The algorithms have initially been created to monitor abdominal cancer patients but researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Capital Region of Denmark believe they could be applied to those recovering from other surgeries.
Eske Aasvang, staff specialist at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen's main public hospital, is collecting data from 400 patients over four years to help understand the signals patients' bodies transmit before complications arise.
A 24-hour clinical support system will then be developed.
Aasvang says up to 20 percent of those who have undergone abdominal surgery will suffer post-surgery complications. These include respiratory distress, circulatory problems, heart failure, and septicaemia. These can develop fast, without being noticed by clinicians.
Aasvang says the current monitoring system is blunt and needs a 21st Century overhaul.
"Normally after surgery patients go to the ward and are monitored by nurses at fixed time intervals, usually every 12 hours. This means you only get snapshots of how the patient is doing. Lots of things can happen in between these measurements, but you really don't know. It's like flying with your eyes blind and only opening them every 12 hours."
He added: "One example is where a patient has normal values at around noon. You come back 12 hours later and everything looks fine. But if you had monitored the patient continuously you might have detected that they had a one hour dip that caused myocardial damage. Another example is 12 hours after an initial monitoring when everything was fine, the patient is doing badly on all parameters."
The team hopes that biomedical computer algorithms will enable early detection of problems, sending an alarm to hospital staff so complications can be avoided.
Lead researcher Helge Bjarup Dissing Sorensen, associate professor at DTU Electrical Engineering, says that in a time when global healthcare systems are under increasing pressure from an ageing population, such a system could reduce healthcare costs substantially, allowing patients to return home faster. It would also allow patients who do not suffer complications to recover faster by allowing them to sleep and get better on their own.
Sorensen is a leading expert in 'wear and forget' sensors whose work was critical in the development of an epilepsy alarm launched commercially this year.
Sorensen told Reuters: "The 'wear and forget' sensors send different modalities to a central computer and we are able to detect heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen level etc. We are able to discover many more critical combinations of these parameters in between the normal clinical standard for checking these values, and this gives us hope for in the future to prevent serious morbidity and even mortality."
He added: "In the coming years we will also try to explore unconventional modalities because there are other information sources than the traditional sources medical doctors are using."
Bolstered by a substantial grant from the Danish Cancer Society, the research is being carried out by Aasvang alongside Dr. Christian Meyhoff from Copenhagen's Bispebjerg Hospital, supervised by two of Denmark's leading professors in cancer surgery.
The team hopes that within five years the system will be commercially available, incorporating a smaller range of sensors currently being developed in the field of medical engineering.
Professor Lawrence Young, director of the Warwick Cancer Research Centre (Warwick University) in the UK told Reuters by email: "This is a really exciting development with significant potential to impact the management of post-operative complications."
He added: "The use of biosensors to monitor vital signs of cancer patients is just the start of using real-time sensors to continuously measure various parameters. While such external sensors offer valuable clinical information that can be processed centrally, the next step will be implantable microsensors that can monitor the blood levels of various factors and could even be used to assess the tumour biomarkers." - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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