KOCHI: Patients who are suffering from heart problems or pulmonary embolism and are dependent on oral anticoagulant drugs for eliminating blood clotting can soon get detailed information about the dosage of their medicines, without having to consult an expert doctor.
The Computer Science and Engineering Department of National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) is developing a unique algorithm that can help heart patients to know the amount of anticoagulant drugs they should consume.
NIT-C has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) to undertake the project and collaborate on healthcare related technologies. Four final year B Tech students of NIT-C have developed the algorithm under the guidance of associate professor Jimmy Jose.
“Patients dependent on oral anti-coagulant drugs have to ensure their INR (International Normalised Ratio) value, the measurement of the time taken to form a blood clot, remains between two and four,” Jose said. “The INR value and medicine dosage of such patients have to be constantly monitored. Hence, on receiving the INR value after blood test in labs, the patients have to constantly visit an expert cardiologist or doctor to change their drug dosage. This can be quite tiring for heart patients and senior citizens,” he said.
Using the new system, patients can type in their INR values and get the right medicine dosage. “The system will allow 70 per cent of the patients in avoiding frequent hospital visits and changing the dosage even by visiting a Primary Health Centre. In the long run, we are planning to develop a mobile app,” Jose said.
SCTIMST will provide the de-identified patient data, INR values, diagnosis and range of INR required for each patient to NIT-C for developing the algorithm using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The given data set will be divided into a randomly chosen 70 per cent for training the system and the rest 30 percent for fine tuning the parameters. Once the algorithm is developed, modified and tested, SCTIMST will release it for public use. “In future, we will be undertaking similar projects with other departments of NIT-C,” said SCTIMST cardiology professor Harikrishnan S.
INNOVATION
The Computer Science and Engineering Department of National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) is developing a unique algorithm that can help heart patients know the amount of anticoagulant drugs they should consume. They signed an MoU with Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) to undertake the project and collaborate on healthcare related technologies. Four final year B Tech students of NIT-C have developed the algorithm under the guidance of associate professor Jimmy Jose