A digital therapy pathway is a healthcare method that employs technology to provide support and therapy services to patients remotely.  These technologies can include wearables and a mobile app for collecting data, an online platform for visualization purposes, video conferencing and chatting for direct communication between clinicians and patients, and a virtual companion service that can support the patient by giving personalized advice [2].

Typically, the process of digital therapy includes many steps [3]. These can include:

1. A first assessment of each patient to determine the best therapy approach
2. Set of clear goals that are specific, measurable, and achievable defined by healthcare professionals
3. Progress monitoring with the use of questionnaires and other digital tools allows healthcare professionals to keep track of the effectiveness of the treatment and adjust it as required

For the last step, a digital evaluation method of the data collected can be implemented where the predefined goals are transformed into critical rules for the health progression. This performance assessment can automatically alert the patient through the mobile app when a measurable attribute is out of range or provide guidance, feedback, and support as patients work towards achieving their goals. This will be achieved with the use of a virtual companion service, that will trigger a dialogue on a regular basis in order to give advice in a personalized manner to ensure progress towards the goals.

To conclude, digital therapy pathways can be an effective way to deliver therapy services to patients who need continuous monitoring and have difficulty accessing traditional in-person therapy, such as those who have mobility issues and also it can thrive in areas where demand for traditional treatment outgrows its capacity [3].

Up to this point, digital therapy is mostly used to supply psychotherapy [4] and Healthentia can be used to provide such services as it incorporates all the aforementioned tools, aspiring to effectively support also other diseases than mental health conditions. Healthentia can provide feedback and in combination with a virtual coaching service, orchestrated by a predefined digital clinical pathway, it can create a personalized approach to improve someone’s health. However, it is important to always take into account patients’ mental health needs, as in some cases in-person therapy may be required.

References

[1] “Global Digital Therapeutics Market Report 2022: Analysis & Forecasts 2020-2026 – Market to Reach $12.1 Billion by 2026” (accessed May 15, 2023).

[2] C. Moore, “What Is Digital Therapy and How Does It Really Work?”, Quenza, Aug. 13, 2021. (accessed May 15, 2023).

[3] “Digital Therapeutics: How Software Can Treat Diseases” AltexSoft. (accessed May 15, 2023).

[4] A. Nwosu, S. Boardman, M. M. Husain, and P. M. Doraiswamy, “Digital therapeutics for mental health: Is attrition the Achilles heel?”, Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 13, 2022, Accessed: May 15, 2023. [Online].

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Study Details

• Type: Observational
• Disease: Cervical Cancer
• Primary Site: Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli
• Start: October 2020
• Population: 50 patients
• Duration: 24 months

Study Description

APACHE is an observational study with tracking devices, co-financed with a primary aim, to assess patients experience of using portable monitoring systems during multimodal oncological therapies and follow up period, through the use of the dedicated app Healthentia and wearable technology (i.e. monitoring bracelet), as Electronic Health Record data harvesting devices.

Monitoring oncological patients during multimodal cancer therapies may represent a significant step towards a comprehensive and reliable quality of life assessment, prevention of toxicity before its clinical onset, and treatment outcomes prediction. More specifically, women affected by locally advanced cervical cancer undergoing chemoradiotherapy followed either by surgery or brachytherapy will report experience measurements like toxicity, instrumental activities of daily living, and stress/coping levels.

The machine learning-assisted analysis of these data will allow to identify patients profile that may be used as risk categories to optimize assistance and follow-up practices.

Study Design & Method

Patients will receive a state-of -the-art wearable device (i.e monitoring bracelet) that will collect at a daily basis Real-World Data like activity (i.e. steps per day), sleep, and vital signs. The device will be delivered during the first visit prior to CRT start. The collected data are then transferred to the patient’s paired device through the Healthentia application downloaded on their smartphone.

During the whole observation period, patients will be also asked to report their weekly wellbeing through the same application, completing dedicated questionnaires. Patient reported outcomes together with the data coming from the wearable device, are used to create lifestyle behavioral patterns of patient utilizing AI algorithms. Models with neural networks will be afterward trained, making it possible to monitor deviations from the patterns, assess and predict clinical outcomes and help with the validation of therapy efficacy and compliance.

Evaluate patients Quality of Life using portable monitoring technologies during the multimodal oncological therapies and follow up period

Compare patient reported outcomes with corresponding clinical records about toxicity, instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and stress/coping levels

Profile patients based on their scores and activity

Train models using AI and machine learning on the patients-reported and monitored data

Testimonial

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