
Application of digital twins in healthcare sector
The term "digital twin" was first introduced to the general public in 2010 in the NASA Integrated Technology Roadmap for Technology: Modeling, Information Technology and Processing.
In simple words, the concept of a "digital twin" can be defined as follows: a digital twin is a digital copy of a physical object or process that helps optimize business efficiency.
Currently, there is an increased interest in this technology in the field of healthcare. According to experts, it is in the healthcare system that digital twins will be able to fully unleash their potential in the contour of three main directions, such as:
- development of personalized medicine;
- development, conduct of preclinical and clinical studies, as well as the most important stages of the introduction of new medicines and medical devices;
- coordination of all business processes of a medical organization (optimization of bed utilization, construction of logistics chains, organization of ecosystem partnerships, etc.).
In real clinical practice, the use of digital twins allows optimizing the study of side effects of various drugs throughout the entire life cycle of the drug, which can significantly increase the safety of individual drugs and their combinations.
The emergence of a lifetime digital twin of the patient can become the technological foundation of personalized and preventive medicine and accelerate the adoption of a common standard for the exchange of medical data.
The digital twin in healthcare can be used to simulate the work of an organ (liver, heart), organ systems (digestive, excretory systems), tissues, as well as at the cellular and subcellular levels. The digital twin can simulate the process of the course or spread of the disease, the patient's response to treatment.
Complex digital twins combine two or more of the above types, while reference digital twins or proto-twins serve as templates or archetypes to create more complex, individual digital twins of each type.
Digital twins can equally cover healthy and damaged objects; for example, a diseased cell (for example, a cancer cell of a certain type), a diseased organ (for example, fatty liver dystrophy in type 2 diabetes) or a disease or syndrome affecting the entire body or several parts of it (for example, Parkinson's disease).
Healthcare institutions (for example, a hospital) may also have their respective digital counterparts of medical organizations or structural units for better planning, monitoring and optimization of their work.
References:
- https://niioz.ru/moskovskaya-meditsina/zhurnal-moskovskaya-meditsina/glavnoe/vozmozhnosti-iskusstvennogo-intellekta-s-pozitsii-klinicheskoy-farmakologii/
- Zuenkova Yu.A. EXPERIENCE AND PROSPECTS OF USING DIGITAL TWINS IN PUBLIC HEALTH // Health care manager. 2022. No.6. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/opyt-i-perspektivy-primeneniya-tsifrovyh-dvoynikov-v-obschestvennom-zdravoohranenii (date of application: 09/08/2024).
- Dmitry Alekseevich Sosfenov DIGITAL DOUBLE: THE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT // Intellect. Innovation. Investment. 2023. No.4. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/tsifrovoy-dvoynik-istoriya-vozniknoveniya-i-perspektivy-razvitiya (date of application: 09/08/2024).