A telemedicine application to schedule temperature in an in vivo sensor network for cancer treatment

Abstract

Wireless communication has played a significant role in modern healthcare systems. However, the death toll from chronic diseases, such as cancer, continues to increase. Hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy is a promising strategy for cancer treatment, and temperature control is critical for the success of this intervention. In vivo sensors are an emerging technology in healthcare. Thermal awareness has also received attention in in vivo sensor research. In this context, we have been motivated to use in vivo sensors to regulate the temperature changes in cancer cells during combined treatment. Limitations in existing in vivo thermal-aware routing algorithms motivated us to use the in vivo "lightweight rendezvous routing" approach. However, smartphone-driven telemedicine applications are proliferating to provide remote healthcare and collaborative consultation, required in combined therapies. In this context, we have proposed a telemedicine application where a smartphone not only regulates temperature scheduling in in vivo sensors, but also communicates with local or remote clinicians to maintain collaborative efforts for combined therapies against cancer.

Fig. 1.

(a) Lightweight subscription operating on body sensor nodes that are divided into three clusters: C₁, C₂, and C₃. In C₂, subscribers S_2′ and S_2″ send subscription messages s_2′ and s_2″, respectively, to broker B₂. B₂ then sends a subscription confirmation message (sc₂) to rendezvous node R. The same operation is performed for clusters C₁ and C₃. (b) A lightweight publisher operates on body sensor nodes that are divided into three clusters C₁, C₂, and C_3. In C₂, when the event occurs, publisher P₂ stops related services and sends a notification message (p₂) to broker B₂. B₂ then forwards notification (p₂) to subscribers S_2′ and S_2″. S_2′ and S_2″ immediately start related services and send confirmations (n_2′ and n_2″, respectively) to broker B₂. B₂ then sends notification confirmation (nc₂) to the rendezvous node R. The same operation is performed for clusters C₁ and C₃. (c) Algorithms of lightweight temperature scheduling routing.

Fig. 2.

(a) Sensor nodes in the body and the rendezvous node/smartphone are involved in temperature control in hyperthermia treatment combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Middleware is implementing the proposed lightweight rendezvous routing algorithm in each in vivo sensor node. (b) Sequence diagram of the implementation of the proposed lightweight rendezvous routing in in vivo sensor nodes and the smartphone/rendezvous node.

Fig. 3.

Architecture of the proposed telemedicine approach. C.T.C.U, cancer treatment control unit; PAN, personal area network; PHR/EHR, patient health record/electronic health record; WAN, wide area network.

Fig. 4.

Sequence diagram of the proposed telemedicine application. C.T.C.U, cancer treatment control unit; EHR/PHR, electronic health record/patient health record.

Fig. 5.

Use cases of smartphone in telemedicine application. C.T.C.U, cancer treatment control unit; EHR/PHR, electronic health record/patient health record.

Fig. 6.

Internal workflow of smartphone application. C.T.C.U, cancer treatment control unit; EHR/PHR, electronic health record/patient health record.

Fig. 7.

(a and b) Using lightweight rendezvous routing (LR) and rendezvous routing (RR) algorithms: (a) total temperature in eight different node orientations with a 10-node set and (b) generated temperature at different nodes (in the node orientation with three publishers [P], four subscribers [S], and three brokers [B]). (c) Performance comparison of LR with Thermal-Aware Routing (TARA), Least Temperature Routing (LTR), Advanced Least Temperature Routing (ALTR), Hotspot Prevention Routing (HPR), and Least Temperature Route Routing (LTRT). LR generates less heat than other protocols. (d) Performance comparison of dissipated energy on different nodes using flooding, omniscient multicast, directed diffusion, and LR.

Fig. 8.

Screenshots of smartphone applications.

Fig. 9.

Class diagram of smartphone application.

Fig. 10.

Doctors' Web panel in local cancer treatment control unit (C.T.C.U).