Download PDF
Bringing Glucose Monitoring to New Levels through Integrated Sensor Design
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
- Life Sciences
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Clinical Image Analysis
- Remote Patient Monitoring
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Close metabolic control through glucose monitoring is essential for persons with diabetes to maintain good health and avoid medical complications. However, the chemical reactions on the sensing strips used in glucose monitors are sensitive to environmental conditions and chemical interferences. Sensors are shipped worldwide, stored under uncertain conditions, and used by individuals with varying levels of knowledge and experience. Robust design is crucial for enabling sensors to survive these environments, deliver accurate results, and detect conditions that would cause errors. Multiphysics simulation is now used alongside experiments and calculations, enabling scientists to understand the chemical, electrical, and biological phenomena interacting in these systems so they can optimize their design and measurement methods.
About The Customer
Roche Diabetes Care, a division of Roche Diagnostics, is a global leader in diabetes diagnostic products and services. The company is dedicated to improving the lives of people with diabetes through innovative solutions and technologies. Roche Diabetes Care offers a wide range of products, including glucose meters, test strips, and insulin delivery systems, designed to help individuals manage their diabetes effectively. With a strong focus on research and development, Roche Diabetes Care continuously strives to enhance the accuracy and reliability of its products, ensuring that users can make informed decisions about their health. The company operates worldwide, providing support and resources to healthcare professionals and patients alike.
The Solution
Engineers at Roche Diabetes Care are pursuing a better understanding of the electrochemistry in their existing devices and designing new sensing methods to provide more accurate monitoring. Their glucometers measure the electric current that results when a voltage is applied to an electrode system, with the current being proportional to glucose levels in an electrolyte solution. Using COMSOL Multiphysics® software simulations, the Roche team studied a new test strip design and isolated the chemical reactions from the electrical, mechanical, and temperature conditions to analyze the voltage response. They built a one-dimensional model to understand and predict the responses, combining Michaelis Menten enzyme kinetics and mixed Butler-Volmer electrode kinetics. Additionally, they applied an AC signal to obtain impedance information used to compensate for temperature and hematocrit effects. This mathematical algorithm provided the sensor with the information needed to make accurate glucose predictions. The team also built a second model of the cell in 3D to solve the electrical problem, investigating different electrode configurations and materials to predict the sensitivity of the impedance measurements to hematocrit and other mechanical properties of the sensor.
Operational Impact
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Hospital Inventory Management
The hospital supply chain team is responsible for ensuring that the right medical supplies are readily available to clinicians when and where needed, and to do so in the most efficient manner possible. However, many of the systems and processes in use at the cancer center for supply chain management were not best suited to support these goals. Barcoding technology, a commonly used method for inventory management of medical supplies, is labor intensive, time consuming, does not provide real-time visibility into inventory levels and can be prone to error. Consequently, the lack of accurate and real-time visibility into inventory levels across multiple supply rooms in multiple hospital facilities creates additional inefficiency in the system causing over-ordering, hoarding, and wasted supplies. Other sources of waste and cost were also identified as candidates for improvement. Existing systems and processes did not provide adequate security for high-cost inventory within the hospital, which was another driver of cost. A lack of visibility into expiration dates for supplies resulted in supplies being wasted due to past expiry dates. Storage of supplies was also a key consideration given the location of the cancer center’s facilities in a dense urban setting, where space is always at a premium. In order to address the challenges outlined above, the hospital sought a solution that would provide real-time inventory information with high levels of accuracy, reduce the level of manual effort required and enable data driven decision making to ensure that the right supplies were readily available to clinicians in the right location at the right time.
Case Study
Gas Pipeline Monitoring System for Hospitals
This system integrator focuses on providing centralized gas pipeline monitoring systems for hospitals. The service they provide makes it possible for hospitals to reduce both maintenance and labor costs. Since hospitals may not have an existing network suitable for this type of system, GPRS communication provides an easy and ready-to-use solution for remote, distributed monitoring systems System Requirements - GPRS communication - Seamless connection with SCADA software - Simple, front-end control capability - Expandable I/O channels - Combine AI, DI, and DO channels
Case Study
Driving Digital Transformations for Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices
Diagnostic devices play a vital role in helping to improve healthcare delivery. In fact, an estimated 60 percent of the world’s medical decisions are made with support from in vitrodiagnostics (IVD) solutions, such as those provided by Roche Diagnostics, an industry leader. As the demand for medical diagnostic services grows rapidly in hospitals and clinics across China, so does the market for IVD solutions. In addition, the typically high cost of these diagnostic devices means that comprehensive post-sales services are needed. Wanteed to improve three portions of thr IVD:1. Remotely monitor and manage IVD devices as fixed assets.2. Optimizing device availability with predictive maintenance.3. Recommending the best IVD solution for a customer’s needs.
Case Study
HaemoCloud Global Blood Management System
1) Deliver a connected digital product system to protect and increase the differentiated value of Haemonetics blood and plasma solutions. 2) Improve patient outcomes by increasing the efficiency of blood supply flows. 3) Navigate and satisfy a complex web of global regulatory compliance requirements. 4) Reduce costly and labor-intensive maintenance procedures.
Case Study
Harnessing real-time data to give a holistic picture of patient health
Every day, vast quantities of data are collected about patients as they pass through health service organizations—from operational data such as treatment history and medications to physiological data captured by medical devices. The insights hidden within this treasure trove of data can be used to support more personalized treatments, more accurate diagnosis and more advanced preparative care. But since the information is generated faster than most organizations can consume it, unlocking the power of this big data can be a struggle. This type of predictive approach not only improves patient care—it also helps to reduce costs, because in the healthcare industry, prevention is almost always more cost-effective than treatment. However, collecting, analyzing and presenting these data-streams in a way that clinicians can easily understand can pose a significant technical challenge.