Session S33.5

The MyHeart Project: A Framework for Personal Health Care Applications

M Harris*, J Habetha

Philips Research Labs
Aachen, Germany

The MyHeart project has been a source of much highly valued ICT research in the cardiovascular area. This paper will give an overview and summarize the technical advances of this successful project.
MyHeart is a so-called Integrated Project of the European Union aimed at developing intelligent systems for the prevention and monitoring of cardiovascular status. The approach of the MyHeart project is to monitor Vital Body Signs (VBS) with wearable technology, to process the measured data and to give (therapy) recommendations to the user of the system. The key element is a closed loop approach, which does not only monitor patients but also provides solutions for the user. This closed loop can either consist of direct local feedback to the user or of professional help by a physician or nurse.
The MyHeart project is based on concepts – autonomous solutions within the cardiovascular application field. Each concrete concept must have a detailed application definition, and be sound on a technical and business level. Supporting these concepts are technical partners with expertise in functional clothes, on-body and integrated electronics, user interaction and professional interaction.
Four concepts have been selected based on medical, technical and business grounds for further development. Together, the four selected concepts cover the spectrum of user health status, with one concept for the healthy, one for those with risks of cardiovascular disease, one for post event patients, and one for the chronically ill. These concepts are currently being validated in user studies.
In this paper, we will describe the MyHeart project, the four concepts and the results from their validation. We will also summarize the technical advances. These include advances in functional clothing for users from the healthy to the chronically ill and development of on-body and home-bedside electronics measuring ECG, breathing rate, activity and other parameters. User interaction advances will be presented for the four user segments, and the professional interactions including the developed professional platforms.

(Abstract Control Number: 278)