Page 117 - Proceedings of the 2017 ITU Kaleidoscope
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Challenges for a data-driven society
Philips Healthcare’s “HealthSuite” Digital Platform forms Vacuum, of RF-power, Current etc. and the recordings of
the base of its Medical imaging IoT strategy. Therapeutic and scattered Energy-doses.
Finally, Toshiba intends to Collaborate with GE on a Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID), the “ancestor” of
common Industrial IoT Pilot Project. Today, a huge amount IoT-devices, already support Radiotherapy for decades, as
of Radiology Data are acquired, providing the opportunity for instance, for implantable in-vivo Dosimetry, they are
to analyze images and associated clinical data, far more combining a dosimeter and a wireless RFID communication
sophisticated and accurate, in order to improve diagnosis. system [29], Breast locating devices including an RFID
The IoT could contribute essentially, to the automation of transponder as a diagnostic instrument, for examining a
the evaluation of the accumulated data and their processing, female breast, Methods for Radiotherapy patient-
to reach a more accurate and individualized Diagnosis. identification, using surface imaging etc. [30].
Further, appropriate arrays of IoT-devices (cyberactuators) There is no doubt that during the next few years, IoT-
could involve Radiology more actively in Epidemiological devices will replace RFID, in their supporting functions,
studies, by re-evaluating big amounts of Anonymized data, resulting in further accuracy and precision in RT.
from around the world and by “comparing” within them, Synopsizing, we could remark that, as far as, the technical
details of Medical Images, associated or assumed to be aspects are taken into consideration, they are related, to the
associated, with specific diseases. difficulty degree of this transformation. Medical Imaging
The employment of the IoT, for automated recognition of and Radiotherapy, and the Emergency and the Outpatient
Regions of Interest (RoIs), combined with the employment Departments posses a medium heterogeneity and scalability
of mathematical methods and algorithms, driven by degree. The Low Energy Data exchange and Tracking, is
“machine intelligence”, will be soon able to “view” and easily provided in the Radiology and RT environment.
“quantify” the inner depths of the human body. We can Finally, as far as Self-organization, Interoperability and
capture “deeper” data and we can also gain much more Security are concerned, the tasks to be performed constitute
“contextual” data, for example in Oncology, where the still the main obstacle, to achieve a really disrupting
richness of data plays a major role, both, in R&D and in influence of IoT, in these two fields.
treatment. Dense networks of IoT, re-evaluating different
RoIs, driven by data-science methods and executed with 3.3. Surgery Intensive Care Units and the Wards
iterative methods, could eventually lead us to trigger the
emergence, of presently latent clinical information and,
thus, to the acquisition of new medical knowledge. We The importance of data, in delivering efficient and effective
could soon advance our ability to recognize early signs of health-care, is obvious. Sensor technologies are making the
bodily deterioration and try to link them with macroscopic creation of new data easier, however, tracking Nursing
patients’ conditions change. activities, pills, hospital-beds etc. need to be communicated,
Radiology can produce really “BIG” data; however, we aggregated, and analyzed. The Internet of Things promises
to turn any object into a source of information about that
need to discover heuristic methods, by “merging” the
potential of Imaging, Mathematics and IoT related grids (or object. This creates a new way, to differentiate products and
services and a new source of value. Admitting a patient for
arrays), into a new, almost “quasi-robotic” technique. acute-care treatment, unleashes an avalanche of new data,
The traditional leader companies in Radiology have already as current vital signs, patient’s medical history, reviewing
made, as we have shown previously, their own initial treatment options etc. All these data may reach to a
preparations, to combine all the necessary aspects of diagnosis and to a recommended course of treatment.
Medical Imaging with the emerging IoT. The two major common-aspects of ICU, Surgery and
Concerning Radiation Therapy, the present and emerging Nursing Wards are to employ the emerging IoT
applications of IoT are mostly focused on the precision and Technology, in order to optimize the care provided in
the accuracy of the delivered Energy-dose, delivered to the Emergency situations, in the Operating Room and in the
Patient. Equipment connectivity and interoperability was a Wards and the safety of the patients during their
first priority in Radiotherapy and since 2013, Varian hospitalization, since the hospital environment “kills” by
Medical Systems and Siemens Healthcare, are now using accident or mistake, over 50,000 people every year, only in
Varian software to plan and manage radiotherapy the US. The main reason is that still today, a huge number
treatments, delivered on a Siemens medical linear of medical equipment, operate independently and there is
accelerator. no way yet to acquire and process the provided data and
These two companies have developed and deployed an information.
interface that connects Varian ARIA-Oncology information Nevertheless, several providers are developing and offer
system with Siemens Oncor and Primus Accelerators and systems that wirelessly link the sensors measuring electrical
Imaging systems. This step, as part of the company's and non-electrical Biosignals, in the ED, in the ICU and in
"Agenda 2013" sector initiative, demonstrates once again the Operating Rooms. These systems aim to reduce the
Siemens Healthcare's role as a strong partner for imaging monitoring burden, with algorithms spotting correlations
systems in Radiation Oncology. However, appropriate IoT- between various Biosignals and to sort-out, real changes in
devices, allow for the real-time follow-up of critical a condition that requires immediate action.
parameters, as for instance values of Temperature, of
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