To contribute to improving the quality of life of patients with glioblastoma. This is the main objective of the new functionalities and features incorporated into Lalaby, an application developed by a team from the ITACA Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) that allows real-time monitoring of the quality of life of users, both patients and non-patients, through the automatic collection of their ‘Digital Phenotype’ through their mobile devices and the application of personalised questionnaires.
This update represents an important advance in personalised medical care and in the quality of life of patients with glioblastoma, the most frequent and aggressive type of brain tumour in adults,’ says Sabina Asensio-Cuesta, professor and researcher in the BSDLab group at the ITACA-UPV Institute who is participating in the project.
Among the new functionalities, in addition to a new optimistic and vital image, a questionnaire specifically designed to assess the quality of life of glioblastoma patients. This information, together with that collected automatically by the app, such as distance travelled, amount of movement, steps, light level, number of calls, amount of data used, and level and frequency of sound, makes it possible to define the patient’s so-called ‘Digital Phenotype’.
This phenotype can be graphically visualised in an online dashboard integrated in the app, providing a more complete overview.
This work is part of the project ‘Monitorización de la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud (CVRS) de pacientes con glioblastoma mediante smartphones para apoyar la toma de decisiones en el tratamiento’ (CIAICO/2022/064), funded by the Generalitat Valenciana, and is being developed by UPV researchers Sabina Asensio-Cuesta, Elies Fuster-García, Juan M. García-Gómez, Ángel Sánchez García and Daniel Sánchez García.
The project is being developed in collaboration with the oncologists from the Hospital Universitario Doctor Peset in Valencia (Fundación Fisabio), Inmaculada Maestu Maiques, Teresa Soria Comes and Maria De Julian Campayo, and the oncologist Jorge Soler, from the Hospital Provincial de Castellón.
Uses and impact of the APP
In this sense, the real-time monitoring capability offers the opportunity to identify changes or trends in the quality of life of patients early, ‘which allows for faster and more effective intervention by health professionals, as well as to optimise their treatments, thus marking an important milestone in the fight against glioblastoma and other similar diseases,’ the UPV research institute says.
The application is currently being applied in a study involving 20 patients with glioblastoma in collaboration with the Hospital Universitario Doctor Peset and the Hospital Provincial de Castellón. It is also being used in a study with 50 lung cancer patients at the Hospital Universitario Doctor Peset, in a collaboration agreement between the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the Fundació Fisabio.
The Biomedical Data Science Laboratory
The Biomedical Data Science Laboratory (BDSLab) of the ITACA-UPV is a multidisciplinary research group composed of more than 15 researchers committed to the development of technology based on data science and artificial intelligence for real health problems. Its know-how covers machine learning, predictive modelling, data quality and variability, multi-parametric tissue signatures, decision support systems and medical imaging. In fact, their participation in projects and contracts has allowed them to develop more than a dozen scientific softwares that help improve medical care and clinical decision making.