A collaboration between Asia-Pacific Extracorporeal Life Support Organization and TXP Medical! TXP Medical trials a case registration system for patients with severe respiratory failure using its OCR technology.

Asia-Pacific Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (Chairman: John Fraser; hereinafter referred to as APELSO) and TXP Medical Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as TXP Medical) are conducting a joint project to establish a case registration system using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in the Asia-Pacific region.

Background

ARDS is a syndrome of severe respiratory failure that could be caused by multiple conditions, such as infection and trauma. The hallmark pathology of ARDS is the presence of widespread inflammation in the lungs and impaired oxygenation. Despite modern advances in ICU care and mechanical ventilation, the mortality rate for ARDS still remains up to 25% to 40%.2 Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)　involves passing a patient’s venous blood through a blood pump and artificial membrane, which allows gaseous exchange, and has emerged as one of the most promising therapies for patients with ARDS.

The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) is an international consortium of experts dedicated to the delivery of ECMO. Established in 1989, ELSO leads research and patient care in ECMO. As of November 2021, 53,503 patients who have received veno-venous ECMO for severe ARDS have been enrolled in the ELSO registry.3 APELSO is the Asia-Pacific branch of ELSO, and has representation from more than 11 countries and 84 ICU facilities. Considering the large population in the region, only 6.6% of data on V-V ECMO※ is contributed from the Asia-Pacific countries. The main reasons to explain this underrepresentation of the Asia-Pacific region in a global registry is the language barrier and lack of research infrastructure and resources.

Summary of this study

The main objective of this study is to develop an Electronic Data Capture (EDC) system for patients with ARDS that meets the needs of researchers and clinicians working in intensive care in the Asia-Pacific region. This project aims to simplify the entry of patient information using NEXT Stage EDC, an application with smartphone and desktop compatibility provided by TXP Medical. Most significantly, this EDC system will improve the efficiency of data collection by harnessing the power of OCR technology and artificial intelligence. Researchers will be able to easily capture clinical information into the EDC by taking a photo of the medical devices with a smartphone. Pilot versions of the technology have been trialed on the interfaces of mechanical ventilators , physiological monitors, ECMO and so on. This technology promises to accelerate the establishment of a patient registry for ARDS in the Asia-Pacific region and will revolutionize the work of data entry staff.

Participating Facilities

・University of Queensland, Australia
・School of Clinical Medicine, The University of Hong Kong and Queen Mary Hospital (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China)
・Thammasat University Hospital (Kingdom of Thailand)

Expected outcomes

We expect that data generated in the Asia-Pacific ARDS registry will help to elucidate the real epidemiological and clinical situation of ARDS in the region. It is also expected to generate clinical evidence, contribute to health policy-making, and promote the development of new therapies. Additionally, the ground-breaking technology will incentivize collaboration and participation across the region and greatly accelerate regional representation in generating clinical evidence and best practice guidelines.

Comments from representatives of both parties

Professor John Fraser, Chairman, APELSO
We are very excited about this collaboration. APELSO has a very broad representation, including most of the major ICUs across the entire Asia-Pacific region. We have a unique opportunity to tackle one of the challenges faced by clinical researchers in this part of the world and simplify the data entry process. The implications for research are huge if we can incentivize more research efforts from the Asia-Pacific countries. Asia-Pacific can truly become leaders in data ingestion.

Tomohiro Sonoo, Chief Executive Officer, TXP Medical
The collection of high-quality data in the field of intensive care has been complicated and challenging not only in Japan but also all over the world. We are very pleased to co-develop the registration system with APELSO using our EDC and OCR technology, which has already been widely used in many medical institutions in Japan.
The significance of this project is immeasurable as we believe this collaboration between the academic institution and the company with a background in emergency and critical care will contribute to raising the quality of intensive care in the AP region.

TXP Medical's EDC construction and operation services

※V-V ECMO is a type of therapy for patients with respiratory failure, in which blood is removed from the venous system, then returned to the patient after gaseous exchange occurs across an artificial lung.

Reference
1. Website of the Japanese Respiratory Society
2. ARDS Clinical Practice Guidelines 2021
3. ELSO Live Registry Dashboard