At-home diabetic foot monitoring for wound prevention
In the DIAMOND project Secuped and LUMC work together to develop a home-monitoring solution for the prevention of diabetic foot ulcers. With the clinical expertise of the LUMC and the medical technology of Secuped, we will develop a better understanding of temperature and physiology in the diabetic foot and use that knowledge to develop and assess a medical device that helps patients detect early signs of ulcer formation.
Diabetic foot ulcers affect 15 to 34% of diabetes patients. It is a serious complication of diabetes that requires intensive wound care. Prospects are poor: 50% of ulcers do not heal within a year and 10% do not heal and require amputation. With more than 500 million diabetes patients worldwide the healthcare system’s financial burden is high as well: € 13,500 per ulcer, leading to a financial burden of 0.5% - 1.0% of healthcare expenses at the country level.
Five randomized controlled clinical trials showed that temperature monitoring for “hotspots” on both feet can reduce diabetic foot ulcers with 30 to 90%, leading to recommendations for temperature monitoring in clinical guidelines. However, these are seldomly implemented because manual daily temperature measurements at 12 locations and administration are too complex for most patients. In DIAMOND, Secuped and LUMC develop an innovative device for automatic foot temperature measurements and automated alerts and evaluate the device for technical accuracy.
This project will deliver:
- Clinical investigations to characterize hotspot sizes and baseline temperature differences due to peripheral artery disease.
- Prototype home-monitoring devices that are safe for patient studies.
- Cloud-based algorithms for automatic alerting of patients and/or healthcare providers.
- Validation of the accuracy of the home-monitoring device in a patient study.