HUS Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) and VTT have started a field test of wearable sensors to develop home dialysis. 

While home dialysis is preferable and much cheaper than hospital dialysis treatments, its availability is still limited. Also, because patients typically visit the hospital for follow-up every second or third month, there is a lack of information between visits. Therefore, HUS, with VTT as a technology partner, has started a field test to monitor home dialysis patients.

A total of 36 volunteer patients will use the sensors that enable monitoring of treatment effectiveness. Making home dialysis safer and more effective would improve the quality of life and save society millions of euros annually. As only two patients per week will participate, it will take over six months to gather all the data.

Testing includes 36 volunteer patients using wearable sensors developed and made by VTT. The sensors gather data on cardiac activity, hemodynamic, and oxygen levels.

“Patients are wearing two wirelessly synchronized sensors, and VTT’s algorithms are embedded in the devices and software. We collect and calculate multimodal data before and after dialysis to understand what happens. As engineers, we only understand numbers and patterns and consult experts at HUS to analyze clinical aspects, biochemistry, and physiology,” said Mohammad H. Behfar, Senior Scientist at VTT.

Behfar emphasized the importance of the full design and development chain that VTT manages from conception to pilot fabrication. VTT has long-term experience with ECG patches and medical technology development. 

This project is funded by the Research Council of Finland. Coordination and fine-tuning began in 2022. Now that all medical and ethical research permits are in order, testing with pre-recruited patients is set to begin.