Digital twins in healthcare: model validation, co-design, and clinical evaluation
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Linköpings universitet - Department of Biomedical Engineering |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 000 000 |
| Project duration | April 2021 - April 2023 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Swelife and Medtech4Health - Collaborative Projects for Improved Health |
| Call | Project that contributes to improved prevention, diagnosis, monitoring or treatment |
Important results from the project
The purpose of this project is to co-design and validate a world-unique eHealth technology: digital twins. What makes Cedersund´s digital twins unique is that they describe how a person looks both on the outside, and inside the body´s various organs. In this project, we have validated these twins, by conducting new clinical studies, which investigate, e.g., how individuals react to different combinations of diet, fasting, and exercise. We have also co-designed and developed a certification strategy for an eHealth app for displaying these twins during preventive health talks.
Expected long term effects
We have conducted smaller, dedicated clinical studies to test specific predictions regarding how, e.g., blood sugar and weight change in response to different diets, fasting, and exercise. We have also conducted a larger clinical study with 200 diabetic patients, which is used to parameterize the digital twins. Together with end users in healthcare, we have also developed a new eHealth app, which visualizes how a digital twin moves and develops, both outside and inside the body´s organs and cells. This lays the foundation for a new patient-centric, preventive healthcare system.
Approach and implementation
The clinical studies are designed in the computer, by conducting various examinations on the digital twins. In this way, we identify studies that provide unexpected and interesting findings, which the twins only correctly can predict if their understanding of what happens in the body is correct. The new eHealth apps are developed through co-design, which begins with in-depth interviews with end users, leading to the design and refinement of new clinical processes and graphical interfaces. Only then are these design ideas implemented in actual code for eHealth apps.