Development and validation of a system for monitoring and managing the journey of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

• Grant number: 23/06235-1
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Victor Pires de Sousa
• Grantee: Marcelo Victor Pires de Sousa
• Company: Tergos Pesquisa e Ensino Ltda. - ME
• CNAE: Pesquisa e desenvolvimento experimental em ciências físicas e naturais
• Associated researchers: Ana Carolina de Magalhães
• Associated research grant: 19/26782-1 - Software for dosimetry planning of photobiomodulation therapy treatments, AP.PIPE
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/21861-9 - Product management in APPx, BP.TT; 24/17576-7 - Full Stack Developer for the development of APPx., BP.TT

Abstract

Bright Photomedicine (trading name of the company Tergos Research and Education S.A., website: https://www.brightmed.com.br) has been operating for nearly 10 years in the treatment of chronic pain. Understanding how pain, quality of life, and daily activities of patients have been affected by pathologies, as well as remedied by customized photobiomodulation therapy-commercially known as photoceuticals - is of utmost importance to Tergos, patients, and physicians. Notwithstanding, it is hard to describe in detail the pain and the moments in which it occurs, as well as how it evolved over time. Therefore, we will develop and validate a system to monitor the clinical evolution of patients. Specifically for this PIPE [Research for Technological Innovation in Small Businesses] project, we will work on obtaining patient data with the aim of quantifying/measuring patient suffering, using indicators such as pain, quality of life, activity impairment, among others, as well as indicators of treatment performance with photoceuticals. To achieve this, we will develop a system whose interface is a mobile application (App) that interacts with the patient to capture information that can be used, for example, to assess the effectiveness of the treatment, improve the accuracy of consultations, enhance, and expand the prescription of photoceuticals. Our expectations are that the system will generate standardization of quality of life measurement based on a set of biological, physiological, socioemotional, and economic indicators, and that this will result in: 1) Serving as an attractor for new patients to enter the Tergos ecosystem; 2) Building patient loyalty to Tergos treatments and being a source of information and community building; 3) Increasing physician engagement and the number of photoceuticals prescribed; 4) Allowing physicians to remotely monitor their patients; 5) Enabling practitioners to view the historical data of each patient. The product of the PIPE, in other words, its final deliverable, is the system and App that interacts with Tergos patients (or potential patients) and connects to other software to perform the expected actions. This project is part of a broader context in which data will be captured, analyzed, synthesized, organized, and graphically presented to other stakeholders (physicians, practitioners, payers, etc.). (AU)