An IoT and Blockchain-Based Multi-Sensory In-Home Quality of Life Framework for Cancer Patients

• Published in: International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (Online) pp. 2116 - 2121
• Main Authors: Rahman, Md. Abdur, Rashid, Mamunur, Barnes, Stuart, Hossain, M. Shamim, Hassanain, Elham, Guizani, Mohsen
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.06.2019
• Subjects: Biomedical monitoring; Blockchain; Cancer; cancer therapy; care at home; Intelligent sensors; Monitoring; quality of life; Smart contracts; smart living; therapy
• ISSN: 2376-6506
• DOI: 10.1109/IWCMC.2019.8766496

Once a subject is diagnosed with cancer, a patient goes through a series of diagnosis and tests, referred to as after cancer treatment. Due to the nature of the treatment and side effects on regular lifestyles, maintaining quality of life in the home environment is a challenging task. Sometimes within a home environment, a cancer patient's situation changes abruptly, as the functionality of certain organs deteriorate, which affects their quality of life. In this paper, we propose a Blockchain and off-chain based framework which will allow multiple medical and ambient intelligent IoT sensors to capture quality of life information from one's home environment and securely share it with one's community of interest. Using our proposed framework, both transactional records and multimedia big data - consisting of a user's physiological as well as mental states - can be shared with an oncologist or palliative care unit for real-time decision support. We have also developed Blockchain-based data analytics, which will allow a clinician to visualize the immutable history of the patient's data available from an in-home secure monitoring system for a better understanding of a patient's current or historical states. We further designed a generic oncologist smart contract and digital wallet for different stakeholders to automate the treatment plan of a particular patient. Finally, we will present our current implementation status, which provides significant encouragement for further development.