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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