E-Care Project: A Promising E-Platform for Optimizing Management of Chronic Heart Failure and Other Chronic Diseases.
Monitoring patients with heart failure by using telemedicine systems is a potential means for optimizing the management of these patients. The E-care project is developing an “intelligent” communicative platform enabling the home monitoring of patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Stage III heart failure using non-invasive sensors. As a result, this platform will assist health care professionals by providing an automated processing of these sensors’ transmitted data in order to detect and report signs of cardiac decompensation early.
The monitoring of chronic disease patients using telemedicine systems is theoretically a promising means for optimizing patient management in these cases, as already demonstrated in certain diseases, such as diabetes or chronic HF.2-6 Advances in telecommunication technologies have created new opportunities to provide telemedical care as complementary treatment to the medical management of HF patients. Meta-analyses have suggested that telemedicine can reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with these types of disorder.
Nevertheless, the results of telemonitoring studies and meta-analyses have been controversial. In reviews assessing these methods, telemedicine approaches range from computer based support systems to ones founded on structured telephone support, or even to programs led by nurses and physicians.2,6 It is thus difficult to have a definitive opinion based on what we know now on whether or not telemedicine has a significant role to play in HF management. In the thorough 2011 meta-analysis from Anker et al., published in The Lancet, the results with respect to mortality and
HF-related hospitalization decreases, in addition to improved quality of life, were well-documented.
Heart Res Open J. 2015; 2(1): 39-45. doi: 10.17140/HROJ-2-107
