Many participants in the consultation process are excited about the possible opportunities provided by the Digital Patient initiative, based on their own personal experience. Many of these opportunities are quite novel, and indicate the potential of the Digital Patient on the clinical, research and industrial sectors.
Medical Education: VPH models and computational tools could
be used to enrich medical student education. Firstly, the models, if
sufficiently mature, can allow students to explore the mechanisms behind
disease, and to study the effects of different aspects of disease on clinical
end-points and patient well-being. Secondly, the introduction of computational
tools at this early stage in training could help future adoption of VPH
paradigms, and allow students to familiarise themselves with the
state-of-the-art in computational bioengineering research.
Unifying patient data: The possibility of combining data on
a patient from various diagnostic sources, and crucially, to be able to quickly
and easily access the data, could help improve diagnosis. This will require an
infrastructure in which the maximum level of detailed data is available to the
medical practitioner, but is managed and interfaced-with in such a way that
he/she is not overloaded with information.
From risk-factors to biomarkers: The use of mechanistic
models can allow us to move away from empirical risk-factors for disease
towards more mechanistic and relevant markers for disease. As an example,
instead of using ventricle size as a surrogate measure of heat function, a haemodynamic
analysis can provide information directly on the hydraulic performance of the
heart (blood flow rate, pressure, etc.).
As a tool for understanding: Similar to its use in medical
education, an individualised model could help clinicians understand the effects
of intervention on patient well-being. Particularly in long-term and complex
diseases, it may be difficult to predict the effects interventions such as
lifestyle changes will have.
No comments:
Post a Comment