PERSIST, 5 million euros to improve care for cancer survivors with AI and Big Data
Lead by Gradiant, Spanish ICT technology center, PERSIST will start next January 2020
In this H2020 project, tools will be developed to improve the treatment of patients who have survived cancer
13 entities from 10 countries participate in this international research based on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data for the health industry
Gradiant will lead an international research project using artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data technologies for the European healthcare sector. Specifically, the PERSIST project will combine the expertise of 13 partners to develop an innovative platform that will support the decision-making of medical doctors to improve the care of cancer survivors.
In this project, which will officially start in January 2020 with the first consortium meeting in Vigo, more than 50 experts from Europe and Turkey will research the problems encountered by patients who survive cancer, specifically breast and colorectal cancer.
The consortium, with partners from Spain, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Latvia, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium and Turkey, is funded by the European Union with more than 5 million euros, under the Horizon 2020 program.
“PERSIST’s objectives are very ambitious. We are pursuing a radical breakthrough in the quality of treatment and follow-up of cancer survivors. We will not only develop innovative applications based on artificial intelligence and big data, but we will demonstrate their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of these patients. In this regard, our approach is fully patient-centric while taking into account all the necessary elements of the healthcare ecosystem, in order to ensure a rapid uptake of the results in the European context”, Luis Pérez-Freire, executive director at Gradiant, the Spanish RTO leading the PERSIST project.
PERSIST: AI and Big Data available to healthcare
Approved in the Big data and Artificial Intelligence for monitoring health status and quality of life after the cancer treatment call (SC1-DTH-01-2019), PERSIST will focus on the problems faced by patients who survive to breast and colorectal cancer. To this end, experts will develop an innovative ecosystem, based on AI and Big Data technologies to support the decision-making of physicians contributing to optimal treatment decisions.
The complete PERSIST system will incorporate, on the one hand, a clinical decision support system based on new models of health data analysis. On the other hand, a mHealth system for the remote and personalized monitoring of each patient. In addition, the partners will develop a Big Data platform that integrates the two previous systems and will connect to the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of any hospital.
The project contemplates the validation through a transnational pilot with more than 150 patients and 32 health professionals from 4 different countries, which will be decisive to establish a co-creation methodology that covers from the initial phases of the project until its conclusion.
PERSIST will start next January 2020 and will end in February 2023. The project’s partners include: Gradiant (coordinator), SERGAS and DXC Technologies (Spain); Univerza Mariboru and Univerzitetni Klinicni Center Maribor (Slovenia); Haute Ecole Specialisée De Suisse (Switzerland); Latvijas Universitate (Latvia); Cyberethics Lab (Italy); Center Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège (Belgium); Symptoma (Austria); Rubynanomed (Portugal); National Patients’ Organization (Bulgaria); and Emoda (Turkey).
International Cancer Research
Every year there are more than 3 million new cancer cases in Europe. Thanks to all the advances in early detection and research resources, patient survival rates have increased in recent decades.
A study published by the World Cancer Research Fund reveals that in many European countries the 5-year survival rate for women diagnosed with stage I or II breast cancer is 80% or 90%. A research article conducted in the European Union and published in 2018 states that colorectal cancer will be responsible for the second largest number of deaths from cancer, with 98,000 deaths in men and 79,400 in women; but nevertheless; since 2012 the standardized mortality rate by age has decreased by 6.7% in men and 7.5% in women.
For a long time, cancer treatment has been the main focus of research, but the time has come to pay attention and efforts on ‘long-term patients’, those who survive the disease and need medical and non-medical care to help them maintain their independence and maximize their quality of life. That is the main objective of the PERSIST project and its partners.
