New project from Naples: 'A bracelet will replace blood tests'

New project from Naples: "A bracelet will replace blood tests." Citizens (Federico II): "Thanks to biosensing laboratories, data will be transmitted in real time." The announcement was made during the Internal Medicine 4.0 conference, attended by 70 specialists from across Italy.

"Thanks to Biosensing laboratories, within a few years it will no longer be necessary to take blood samples for analysis; instead, a simple bracelet will be enough to measure blood sugar, electrolytes, sodium, potassium, and BNP levels for heart failure. The data will be transmitted remotely in real time directly to an operations center."This was stated by Antonio Cittadini, full professor of Internal Medicine at the Department of Translational Medical Sciences at the Federico II University of Naples, during the conference "Internal Medicine 4.0," which brought together 70 specialists from across Italy in Naples.

“With Professor Paolo Netti and the CRIB we are developing laboratories at Federico II that use the latest generation biosensors through systems already available – adds Cittadini – This allows us to perform most of the tests using sensors applied to the skin, without the need for needles or blood samples. This can be used, for example, to intervene in the treatment of heart failure. This also demonstrates the central role of Internal Medicine in the treatment of most diseases. For twenty years, we have been working on a subgroup of patients with heart failure and hormone deficiencies, and we have discovered that, by addressing the hormone deficiencies with specific treatments, we can prevent the progression of the disease and also improve the cardiac condition.

“In Naples, a lot is being done in the field of research applied to healthcare and in the training of young people and doctors – assures Maria Triassi, president of the School of Medicine and Surgery of the Federico II University – and Internal Medicine 4.

“The change in the world of health and healthcare comes through innovation and digitalization - says Vincenzo Santagada, Councilor for Health of the Municipality of Naples – and making the data “walk” allows for constant contact between patients and healthcare facilities and operators. But we also need 4.0 healthcare operators and it is right to focus on training. Furthermore, I am convinced that the discussion on the electronic health record should also be accelerated”.

For Annamaria Colao, president of the Italian Society of Endocrinology, "in Europe there is an increase in obesity that is accompanied by a worrying increase in internal diseases. These are two aspects that go hand in hand and in Campania the problem is amplified, because the region is the worst for childhood obesity. Prevention strategies must be improved to block most of the deadly diseases that obesity brings with it".

For Nicola Montano, president-elect of the Italian Society of Internal Medicine, technology remains “a fundamental tool, which the pandemic has also allowed us to carry forward in an important way, advancing with its use. But technology applied to medicine must be used as a tool and not as an end”.

Andrea Bianco, president of the Italian Association of Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiology, instead talks about living well: “Cardiac rehabilitation focuses a lot on the treatment of heart failure because we have found that patients benefit more from rehabilitation cycles, their mortality rate is lowered and above all they live better”.