TrialsNet

COMO5 considers a UC of patients affected by chronic diseases, specifically patients affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive chronic lung disease. The goal is to assess the opportunity to improve the efficiency of their management via a new approach based on telemedicine. Patients’ conditions are monitored continuously via a kit of unintrusive devices, specifically a smartphone, a smart-watch and a portable spirometer, see Figure. Such devices are connected to the internet via a 5G connection, which is exploited on one side for real-time data transmission and, on the other, to allow patients to interact with healthcare professionals whenever their conditions require it. Data collected from each patient is transmitted to a data collection platform that stores and analyses the data to automatically assess the evolution of the disease and detect the worsening of the patient’s conditions. The platform offers a web interface for healthcare providers that can be used to monitor the data received by the patients and the results of the data analysis. The interface can also be used to provide feedback, suggest changes in the protocol or request extra measurements (e.g., more frequent ECG or extra spirometer measurements) to the patients. Such information/requests are visualised on the patient's smartphone. Two different modes of operations are defined for the system: stable and deteriorating. Patients in stable conditions have a stable outlook, and the disease is currently under control; instead, patients with deteriorating conditions are worsening, and that requires a fine-grained collection of data supported by the 5G network via dynamic reconfiguration, and, if requested by the patient or by the clinician, a live consultation to assess the overall condition remotely and recommend hospitalisation or changes in the treatment protocol.