The Digital Health World Congress 2022 puts the spotlight on medical devices

The Digital Health World Congress 2022 took place in London on 17 and 18 May. The ICT Social Health Foundation brings you the digital health tech trends that were presented there.

The annual congress for English-speaking countries brought together representatives of the digital health-related business and consulting world and announced some new products. Companies such as ORCHA, Google, OMROM, ELEM Biotech and CHARCO NEUROTECH presented solutions for telemonitoring and remote monitoring of patients. Details of the most interesting ones are set out below:

One of the highlights of the conference was ELEM Biotech, which presented software that allows the body’s organs to be simulated virtually. This is a start-up that has worked with Barcelona Supercomputing Center to simulate the behaviour of human body’s organs virtually. Through these organ simulations, they are able to simulate diseases such as heart obstructions and see how the blood flows, and the amount of blood flow, through the arteries in the heart. We can thus identify the best treatment to tackle disease more efficiently.

ELEM Biotech is also proposing a new way to approach clinical trials. They propose the inclusion of virtual human models for some specific stages of clinical trials of new drugs.

Google Cloud’s Life Sciences Industry division presented some recently implemented innovative tools to improve communication for people with functional diversity. The Look to Speak app lets you select previously written phrases with your gaze, so an artificial voice can repeat them. Meanwhile, according to the director of the division, Christina Busmalis, every year around 10 billion searches about dermatology are carried out. Busmalis comments that the vast amount of information viewed and sent could be very helpful in diagnosing certain skin problems if artificial intelligence is used to support such diagnoses.

OMRON outlined the features of an app designed to monitor patients with hypertension to prevent heart attacks. Carol R. Lucarelli, Executive Director, stated that “hypertension is the third-biggest risk factor after tobacco and poor diet. Many people are not diagnosed. And they don’t get treated.”

In parallel, they have conducted a study of health professionals to find out their opinions on digital devices used to monitor patients. The results are conclusive. 86% of professionals surveyed agree that health devices provide patients with information that has an effect on their well-being. Accordingly, OMRON has also developed another app, Hypertension Plus, which allows patients with high blood pressure to be monitored more efficiently.

Deloitte presented the concept of Digital Therapeutics (DTx). This involves prescribing digital solutions, with evidence-based medical intervention, to prevent, manage or treat a clinical disorder or disease.

Finally, ORCHA commented on the results of a study carried out with health professionals concerning a service that evaluates the digital solutions available to them. In one of its most relevant conclusions, the study focuses on adherence to technology-supported treatments. An app recommended by a professional results in 40% greater adherence than an app available in the marketplace. Of the 365,000 health apps available on the market, just 20% meet the standards, and 90% of the apps available are not a health product. Therefore, they are not subject to this regulation.