A system was designed to study the evolution of three chronic diseases: cardiac arrhythmia, arterial hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus. Medical devices to capture an ECG channel, to measure blood pressure and to measure blood glucose are assigned to each patient depending on their needs. Previously, the patient is enrolled in the system to register his general data, his sickness and his medical treatment. Signals and parameters captured by the medical devices are sent by a Bluetooth channel to a terminal that processes this information and uploads the results to a website. All the signals and values are stored in a database and doctors can review all the data of their patients; trend graphs are displayed for each parameter associated to the studied diseases. In this way, at every moment doctors can know the effectiveness of the treatment of each patient and can modify the treatment if it is necessary. With a phone call, it is enough to tell the patient the change to make in the medicine indications. This way of working creates a more robust link between the patient and the doctor and a more expeditious way to adjust medical treatment to the evolution of the patient.

Following the Evolution of Chronic DiseasesRene Gonzalez-Fernandez, Margarita Mulet-Cartaya, Olivia Canto-Hernandez,Alejandro Lopez-Reyes, Eyglis Ledesma-Valdes, Pedro Luis Gonzalez-AcostaICID Digital Medical Technology. Havana, Cuba.

Diabetes Mellitus, Arterial Hypertension and Cardiac Arrhythmias are a current health problem due to their high rates of morbidity and mortality. In addition, their medical treatment is very expensive for Public Health Services. People suffering these disturbances should visit their physicians regularly to check the disease evolution and to modify the treatment when is necessary. This follow-up procedure is not meticulous because it is impossible to study the changes day by day. In addition, this approach causes agglomerations in hospitals and discomfort for patients and medical staff.

Combining the use of public data networks and simple medical devices, develop a system for the continuous follow-up of the evolution of chronic diseases while decreasing the visits of patients to their doctors. The proposed solution should ensure that there is evidence of changes in the patient's health status at minimal cost and discomfort.

3rd WHO Global Forumon Medical Devices

Layer I, Data Acquisition: Small battery-powered devices are able to measure blood glucose, blood pressure and to capture a one-channel ECG. These devices are able to transmit data to the Android app using a Bluetooth link.

Layer II, Processing and Uploading: An Android apps receive the measurements and signals from the medical devices. This data is processed and uploaded to a web app to be store in a database.

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Patient Registration: The physician fills out a form with the patient's data using the web application. Previously, the physician login the system with username and password.

Training with app and medical devices: The patient learns to use the Android app of the system and the medical devices. Also, he gets the User Guide and the necessary accessories.

Capturing Parameters at Home: The patient captures parameters and signals by himself according to the physician's instructions. This information is processed and uploaded by the Android app using secure Internet protocols. Communication between Android app and medical devices is based on Bluetooth standard.

Storing and Displaying Information: The uploaded data is read by the web app and added to the system database. Any physician can log in and analyze the data of their patients using the graphical interface of the system. Data tables, graphs, trend charts and signals themselves are available. By studying the trend of the parameters associated with each disease, the physician can identify the beginning of a dangerous event and apply the appropriate medical treatment.

In this way, the doctor has more control over the health status of his patients and reduces the discomfort that could cause visits to the doctor.

A first version of the proposed system was completed and tested preliminary. The goal of the research project described in this paper has been accomplished. The proposed system looks like a useful tool to study several chronic diseases better than the way traditionally used.

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rigonzalez@icid.curigf58@yahoo.com

René González Fernández, PhD.

Contacts

Abstract

The Problem to solve The Target

The Proposed Solution

The Implementation

Conclusions

1

A150

Layer I I I , Data storing and displaying: Information received from Android apps is stored in a database. Physicians will log in the web application to analyze the information corresponding to their patients, so the diseases can be study closely and medical treatment can be modified dynamically.

3

PHYSICIAN 1INTERNETSERVICE PROVIDER

WEB APP

PATIENT 2

PHYSICIAN M

sHTTPECG MODULE

sHTTP

PATIENT N

PATIENT 1