Towards closed-loop personal health systems in cardiology: The HeartCycle approach

HeartCycle is a large-scale EU integrated project aiming to provide a complete disease management solution for cardiovascular disease patients, with emphasis on Heart Failure (HF) and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) patients. The project develops innovative technologies and services to facilitate remote management of patients at home and motivate them to be compliant to treatment regimes and to adopt a beneficial lifestyle. HeartCycle aims to develop a personalised care system, integrating care at home with professional care in the hospital embedding health delivery feedback loops both at the professional and patient levels. In this paper, we present the three major systems that HeartCycle consists of, namely, the Heart Failure Management system, the Guided Exercise system, and the Assessment system. For each of these systems we summarise the current research and development efforts conducted, as well as the challenges faced towards their embodiment in actual healthcare delivery.