Izertis and a consortium of companies create a pioneering system to digitize and automate the manufacture of the corset against scoliosis
Our firm has launched, together with a consortium of companies and public institutions, the eHealth pilot project, designed for the digitization and automation of the treatment and monitoring of idiopathic scoliosis. The initiative focuses on applying different technologies at each stage in which the disease lasts to evolve its treatment and improve patient care.
This is a pioneering project in Spain that has already been tested on several patients, obtaining positive results, although it is expected that the project will reach the definitive conclusions within two years. The initiative responds to limitations during the treatment process of a disease that affects 3% of the Spanish population, mainly teenagers between 10 and 19 years of age.
The entry into action of this initiative begins after stage 1 in which scoliosis is diagnosed, that is, when the specialist decides if the patient will need to wear a corset based on the severity of their pathology. It is already in stage 2 and its corresponding sub-stages, those of treatment and follow-up of the patient, when the eHealth project begins to be applied, ending in stage 3, which is the moment in which discharge is received.
The first contact with these new technological-medical methodologies and tools begins with a robot that is in charge of receiving the adolescent with the specialist doctor, when the patient is going to take the measurements for the corset for the first time, taking advantage of the ability to empathize of the robot to create a fluid three-way conversation between patient, robot and doctor, making the medical procedure more effective and pleasant, which in other circumstances could seem more cold and impersonal (robotics led by the company Alysis together with the medical team of FINBA- ISPA).
Another of the main changes in this clinical process is the incorporation of 3D scanning and pressure sensors in the measurement device to determine the patient's morphology - personalized medicine - with which to obtain more precise data on the dimensions with which it should be built the corset (sensorization implemented mainly by the Idonial technology centre together with the FINBA-ISPA medical team). These additions would provide much more complete information, avoiding possible human bias during the creation process.
This digital process continues with the manufacture of the corset, which includes temperature sensors that allow monitoring the time the patient uses the device thanks to a user interface. In addition, thanks to this solution, it is possible to control another series of parameters of interest in order to optimize the treatment and exploitation of data in other patients (implemented mainly by our company and Idonial).
The new solutions developed by the consortium of companies and entities that are working on this innovation project complete the entire process with monitoring based on telemedicine, virtual assistants (chatbots) and gamification (implemented by Izertis, i4life, Fundación Universidad de Oviedo and CTIC)..
When the patient arrives at home for the first time, a thousand doubts arise. The doctor, ideally, would require regular contact with the patients to assess the progressive adaptation to the corset and its adherence to treatment (it should be considered that its use may be prescribed between 22-23 hours a day). In addition, early detection of possible side effects (cutaneous, neuropathic or abdominal processes) is important. Therefore, the implementation of a telemedicine solution improves and speeds up the monitoring of each specific case, while combining the data collected from the sensorized corset itself.
Families feel that improvements are being made to combat this disease
“The project is having a very important impact in Spain, among professional colleagues (specialists, therapists, physios, etc.) and families, who feel that improvements are being made to combat this disease, and not only in the technical part, which is logically transcendent, but in turn in the human factor, by promoting a part that until now was stalled”, has highlighted our Innovation Consultant, Nuria Rodríguez.
This initiative is framed within the 'Scientific Missions' and 18 public and private technological and medical entities from different fields of specialty collaborate in it. One of its main promoters has been Dr. José Fidalgo, Head of the HUCA Child Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Section. Likewise, the project is led by our firm, with the participation of Idonial, FINBA-ISPA, CTIC, i4life, Fundación Universidad Oviedo, Alisys and Tesis. MBA, Pixelshub, IEDUCAE, Acuña and Fombona, ICT Cluster, Air Liquide Healthcare, Ortoibérica, Prim, Bioquochem and the University of Oviedo (through the Medialab Chair).