March 2023 Digital Health Roundup
Each month, technology allows providers and researchers to make huge advances in cancer care. Uses for artificial intelligence have expanded into the area of developing new medicines for the fight against cancer. In New Jersey, a new remote monitoring program is being utilized to help patients and providers monitor their cancer treatment journey. Scientists have developed microbubbles to use with ultrasound for more precise bowel cancer diagnosis.
Your New Medicine, Brought to You by AI
Medicines designed by artificial intelligence for conditions including lymph cancers, inflammatory diseases and motor neuron diseases are reaching trials in humans reports Politico. A.I. dramatically reduces the time it takes to develop new medications. Researchers use algorithms for A.I. to go through large amounts of data including chemical compounds, animal studies, and patient information. Using these algorithms helps scientists find what a drug needs to target in the patient’s body, what molecules will accomplish this, and even create new molecules to do the job. One of the biggest obstacles to developing new medications is collecting and reviewing vast amounts of validated data. Artificial Intelligence is making this obstacle much more manageable, improving patient outcomes. Click to read the full story.
New Jersey Cancer Care Launches Remote Patient Monitoring
With the first cohort of patients onboarded for the RPM program, the center aims to achieve greater treatment compliance and drive oncology innovation with connected medical devices, a patient app, and an integrated cloud-based clinician portal reports Healthcare IT News. Providers and patients will both benefit from remote patient monitoring by seeing patient physiological data in real time. Providers can respond quicker and adjust treatment accordingly. Patients use a smartphone app to report and track their symptoms. The patients care team can follow the information gathered in the app and improve the patient’s quality of life. Patients can choose to allow other family members to follow their information through this app, allowing for better care and communication. This remote monitoring is a part of precision oncology, allowing for a more personalized approach to patient care. Using this technology from home is more convenient for the patient physically and financially. Providers can choose to adjust patient treatments to help prevent costly hospital stays. Click to read the full story.
Microbubbles Could Help Bowel Cancer Patients Avoid Life-changing Surgeries
By injecting microscopic bubbles of a safe gas into the bloodstream of bowel cancer patients, the researchers believe ultrasound could be used by surgeons in the future to identify which areas of tissue the cancer has spread to reports Medical Xpress. This method minimizes removal of healthy tissue and reduces the extent of bowel surgery. Reducing the extent of bowel removed decreases the risk of complications such as a stoma after treatment. These microbubbles have a safe gas inside a shell of fat that is like human cells. The bubbles are injected into the bloodstream and ultrasound waves are used on the patient. When the bubbles meet the sound waves, they expand and reflect more ultrasound energy back to the scanner causing a more accurate image. The researchers can see which lymph nodes have cancer and which do not. This method is already successfully used in cardiac and liver patients. Click to read the full story.
Dana Kaiser is a professional writer and a strong patient advocate, learning from experience during her 22-year career as a nurse.
