The Sapienza University team created a lightweight t-shirt with sensors that track body temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, ECG, and more in collaboration with LET's Webearable Solutions, a telemonitoring company. Data is sent to web-based software and an app by the wearable gadget. The study will be presented in Madrid at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress.
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A t-shirt that tracks a patient's vitals following cancer urology surgery may make it easier for patients to recuperate at home after their hospital stay. In a 70-person pilot research, the device, worn under clothing for three-hour intervals daily for around two weeks, made patients feel more secure and at ease than the control group.
Telemedicine enables remote communication between patients and professionals, enabling patients to continue receiving care, interventions, and monitoring from the convenience of their own homes. Antonio L. Pastore, an Associate Professor of Urology at Sapienza University of Rome, and his colleagues wanted to see if they might discharge their patients earlier than the norm after urological surgery performed with robot assistance for cancer.
Three to five days following surgery, participants in a control group were released as usual. Two to four days after surgery, the patients in the "wearable" group were released 24 to 36 hours early wearing a T-shirt that tracked vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate, saturation, and blood sugar.
The wearable group received a thorough explanation of the device's operation and was instructed to wear it from 7 to 10 a.m., 2 to 5 p.m., and 7 to 10 p.m.
The t-shirt we gave to patients differs from smartwatches and other wearables. It can reveal more data, including electrolytes, which we need to continue to monitor after bladder surgery as they can reveal mineral imbalances that lead to serious complications.
Antonio L. Pastore, Associate Professor, Urology, Sapienza University
Eight patients (26%) in the control group visited the hospital prior to their planned follow-up, while only two patients (6%) in the wearable group did so. The t-shirt's monitoring also identified five patients' development of cardiovascular diseases, enabling early diagnosis and treatment.
Patients in this group had an overall satisfaction percentage of 90%, and the average duration of remote monitoring was 13.5 days. 87% of patients thought the telemedicine-based instructions were encouraging and useful, while 10% had difficulty understanding them.
“Our patients found the t-shirt easy to use and over 90% reported it allowed them to feel safe and cared for while recuperating at home. In Italy, where standard discharge time after this type of robotic-assisted urological surgery can be at least 72 hours, being able to allow patients home sooner improves their quality of life as they feel more comfortable in their environment, and it means we can free up hospital beds too,” said Antonio Pastore.
This sensory t-shirt appears to be a promising remote monitoring technology for helping patients to recover well at home after robotic-assisted urological surgery. The trial is early stage, but the insights are very interesting, particularly since patients strongly accepted the wearable and it was able to detect complications in real-time and reduce unnecessary rehospitalizations.
Maarten Albersen, Professor, Urologist, UZ Leuven
Maarten Albersen is also the Scientific Congress Office Chair at EAU.
“Given the small size and preliminary nature of the trial, before we can see this sort of wearable in clinical practice more data is needed on its ability to support earlier discharge from hospital, and its true impact on outcomes and cost-effectiveness,” said Albersen.
The researchers are currently investigating the technology's cost-effectiveness.