While consumer fitness trackers are becoming increasingly common, they are not yet incorporated into post-operative health care in any standardized way.

Therefore, this project uses a custom-built web application and commercially available fitness trackers to allow physicians to monitor the progress of a recovering patient in the weeks and months following a cardiovascular operation. Analyzing the patient’s biometric data (including heart rate, activity, and sleep trends) in real time, the system notifies the physician if potentially concerning conditions arise (such as an elevated heart rate with little associated activity).

Following a cardiovascular operation, adhering to a plan of increasing aerobic activity is crucial to a strong recovery. Therefore, this application functions as a non-invasive tool to tighten the feedback loop between physicians and patients. This way, a physician can immediately receive relevant information, rather than having to wait several weeks for a post-operation checkup in which the patient might give a less-specific, qualitative overview of his or her own progress.

Additionally, this system will be used with patients and physicians in a clinical environment at SLU’s Center for Comprehensive Cardiovascular Care (C4). Building a non-invasive tool to improve the cardiovascular recovery of patients has the potential to make a significant contribution to the fields of personalized medicine and wearable devices alike.

You can view our Symposium Poster here.