Wireless body area network: Real-time patient care

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  Quantumrun Foresight
• September 14, 2022

Insight summary

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) transform healthcare by enabling real-time monitoring of vital signs and patient environments, leading to quicker and more informed medical decisions. They enhance artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in detecting health issues and offer a cost-effective approach to patient care, but face challenges in connectivity and hardware reliance. With broad applications ranging from senior care to smart medical wearables, WBANs are shaping future healthcare while navigating regulatory and technical landscapes.

Wireless body area network context

Wireless body area networks are a technology that connects wearable devices to a central monitoring system. This system is designed to use low-energy integrated circuits and efficient wireless communication networks, ensuring reliable and swift data transfer. In healthcare, these networks are particularly valuable. They allow for the transmission of real-time data on patients' physiological functions, such as heart rate and blood pressure, directly to healthcare professionals. This capability is crucial for immediate and informed medical decisions.

In a hospital or healthcare setting, WBANs play an essential role. They not only connect devices that monitor vital signs but also gather data from environmental sensors throughout the facility. This comprehensive data collection helps in creating a detailed picture of both the patient's condition and the surrounding environment. It enables healthcare providers to quickly respond to changes in a patient's condition or in their environment.

There are two main types of data collection in WBANs: single-event and periodic event detection. Single-event detection involves nodes transmitting data when a specific event occurs, such as a sudden change in a patient's heart condition. Periodic event detection, on the other hand, involves nodes sending data at set intervals. This method is useful for continuous monitoring of stable conditions, like blood pressure or heart rate. Advanced medical devices such as implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, pacemakers, and left ventricular assist devices now often include Bluetooth technology. This allows them to connect and communicate with other equipment and healthcare practitioners, enhancing patient care through improved data sharing and analysis.

Disruptive impact

Wireless body area networks offer several benefits for patients and healthcare providers. These networks can monitor patients remotely from the comfort of their homes, thereby reducing doctor visits, Similarly, these systems can collect patient data over an extended time, and do so in a patient's natural environment, providing significant insight into epidemiological studies (the study of disease control), assist with disease prognosis, and maintain accurate health data records. 

Healthcare providers are leveraging WBANs to enhance AI capabilities, particularly in detecting complex conditions such as heart arrhythmias. By analyzing data collected through WBANs, AI algorithms can learn to identify subtle patterns and changes in patient health, leading to earlier and more accurate diagnoses. Additionally, the implementation of WBANs offers a cost-effective solution, reducing overall healthcare expenses while simultaneously elevating the safety and quality of patient care.

However, WBANs do have limitations. These networks rely on GSM/cellular services for data transmission, which can be unstable in areas with weak or no connectivity. Bluetooth technologies and wearables connected to WBANs must function with low power consumption and provide seamless data transmission; if not, it can result in incorrect data transmission. Additionally, WBANs tend to be hardware-reliant, which makes them difficult to re-program. 

Supporting the increasing adoption of WBANs, research firm Market Research Future forecasts that the global BAN market is expected to grow to USD $21 billion by 2025 from USD $9 billion in 2018.

Implications of wireless body area network

Wider implications of WBANs may include: 

• Senior care homes adopting WBANs to monitor the senior citizens under their care.
• Psychiatric wards adopting WBANs to monitor the mentally unstable patients under their care.
• Penitentiaries of various forms adopting WBANs to monitor the movements of their inmates.
• Governments imposing strict data privacy regulations for WBANs to ensure that medical information is protected.
• Increasing investments in Internet of Things (IoT) devices and infrastructures like WBANs to expedite and automate diagnostics and treatments.
• Smart medical wearables that can alert nearby hospitals for medical emergencies.

Questions to consider

• How can governments expand cellular networks to include access to WBANs to benefit society?
• What are other potential challenges and opportunities in implementing WBANs?