How a digital version of you could revolutionize healthcare

As humans evolve, so does our understanding of ourselves. To push healthcare forward, we are exploring ways to better comprehend what drives health and disease on every level – from our genes to our daily behaviors.

We already have consumer technology that paints a picture of our individual physiology: how much we sleep each night, how many steps we take each day, how we breathe and how our heart rate fluctuates over the course of a day. Behind the scenes in labs, radiology departments and ICUs, dense information is gathered from our genetic make-up to the condition of our vital organs over time. To diagnose disease we identify the relevant modalities to collect information, for instance imaging systems, lab diagnostics, DNA sequencers or medical records. Each of these give a snapshot and a perspective, but if we put them all together they can contribute to a holistic understanding of you. We are starting to combine clinical and behavioral data, gleaned over time, to create your digital twin.

Digital Twins are virtual models of the physical world. They use the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and complex data in models that create insights and support (real-time) decision making. In a self-driving car, AI models use multiple overlapping modalities like cameras, lidar, radar, sensors and digital maps together to create a precise picture of the surrounding world of the car. NASA applies digital twins to aircraft: essentially flying both in the virtual and real world simultaneously. While industries like energy and aerospace are more mature in applying this technology, it is perhaps healthcare that holds the greatest potential.

The premise of the digital twin is simple: the more you know about yourself, the more you (and your doctor) can understand what influences your health, and the better your care providers can help you to stay healthy. When you do get sick, your digital twin will be used for further diagnosis. Multiple digital twins across a population can be analyzed for similar patterns, potentially supporting more precise diagnosis and better identification and assessment of treatment options. A holistic, population centric approach, with built-in feedback loops, is what will truly help the technology constantly evolve and improve; benefitting everyone.

Becoming a reality

Many consumers are interested in tracking their health. In the U.S., seven out of ten adults regularly look at health indicators for themselves or a loved one. The 23andMe’s genomic test was one of Amazon’s top 5 selling products on Black Friday.

To support better health outcomes, Philips has branched out into cloud-based, collaborative care with HealthSuite, which connects devices and data from hospitals to homes. This is helping patients to take a more active role in managing their health and enhances care providers’ clinical decision making. Eventually, all of this data will feed into a dynamic model that is your digital twin. Last year Philips launched its heart model which is the “brain” behind the new Ultrasound cardiology suite. Progressively we are adding perspectives, like those gleaned from MRs, CTs and ECGs, to further refine the heart model. Similarly models for other organs like brains, lungs, intestines, kidneys and livers are being developed, each adding to a better understanding of you. Diagnostic systems will be configured based on what they know about you and add to the knowledge about you, further refining your digital twin.

A digital twin is a virtual representation combining traditional knowledge and science-based approaches with data and AI based insights.

A digital twin is a virtual representation combining traditional knowledge and science-based approaches with data and AI based insights. It’s created from our understanding of anatomical, physiological, bio-molecular processes, snapshots of our health as well as streamed medical and behavioral data. With this holistic view on health, presented in a clinical context, the potential for individual preventive healthcare and population health management is unparalleled.

This may sound futuristic, but we are already seeing applications of digital twins. Indeed, leading research and advisory company Gartner named Digital Twins in its top 10 strategic technology trends in 2017. With advancements in augmented and virtual reality, we are moving towards a time where your digital twin can be visualized as a fully formed 3D model with parts that mirror your own.

New treatment strategies

So, what do applications of virtual reality, like digital twins, really look like? Imagine you and your partner are about to have a baby, and you find out that your baby has a form of structural heart disease, which was picked up at one of the recent pregnancy scans. The child will not survive very long without surgery. The problem is that, from among the 200,000 babies born each year in your country, only a tiny fraction of them have a similar condition to your son’s. This means his surgeon may only have encountered this condition a handful of times in their career.

With a heart so incredibly fragile, the surgeon only has one chance.

With a heart so incredibly fragile, the surgeon only has one chance. They are essentially a plumber trying to fix the pipes on a boiler that’s the size of a walnut. Now imagine if they could not only see the baby’s heart in 3D, but also practice reconnecting those tiny pipes in 4D to see how the blood will flow through your son’s heart before even operating on him. They can tap into the knowledge acquired in similar cases.

All of the data about your baby’s surgery and their recovery would be captured with a digital twin, helping to inform, simulate and predict recovery as his life went on.

In the ICU, if a patient shows signs of rapid deterioration, the digital twin could help doctors step in at the right moment to prevent cardiac arrest or sepsis, for example. Digital twins could also help bring to light early indications of cancer or Alzheimer’s by comparing your data with that of many others, detecting subtle abnormalities that are precursors to these types of disease.

 Approaching the new frontier

Philips has already created technology to enable surgical navigation based on augmented reality (AR) and integrated 3D intraoperative imaging. AR accuracy stands at 85% – compared to 64% accuracy through traditional methods.

In the case of non-invasive surgery, this increased accuracy can drastically improve clinical efficiency. For example, while fitting a stent, imagine your surgeon is equipped with smart glasses that can transpose display of vital signs onto your body while real-time information is used to guide the catheter fitting through augmented reality. This would provide a fuller picture and therefore improve the outcomes of the patient.

According to Gartner’s 2017 article on trends, “within three to five years, billions of things will be represented by digital twins… Their proliferation will require a cultural change, as those who understand the maintenance of real-world things collaborate with data scientists and IT professionals.”

Creating digital twins means dealing with patient information. It’s clear we should take into account the sensitivities that come with that and privacy consent has to be securely managed. 

Looking at the seemingly limitless possibilities that digital twins could offer the healthcare industry, I’d agree that this is a fair assessment, and I’m excited to be part of this promising future.