Method and System to Exchange Information About Diseases

• US 20120130740A1
• Filed: 11/21/2010
• Published: 05/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Datagenno Interactive Research Ltda.
• Original Assignee: Datagenno Interactive Research Ltda.
• Inventors: Coutinho, Marcelo P., Costa, Fabricio F., Foly, Luciano S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,630,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/60 relating to pathologies

Abstract

An online system and method enabling users to exchange information and establish collaboration in scientific projects on rare diseases is described. The website allows users to create a list of symptoms for a patient with a rare disease who is under their care. The patient'"'"'s list of symptoms is then used to find other patients sharing a similar list of symptoms. A matching system creates a match report that ranks patients with similar symptoms. Once a list of potential matches is available, the user may take the initiative of contacting other colleagues with similar clinical cases under their care, for the purpose of exchanging information and/or establishing collaboration in scientific projects about a particular rare disease. A database containing information on rare diseases, along with other services, is also provided to the users at the website.

Claims

1. A method for matching users interested in studying and/or sharing information about diseases, particularly rare diseases, based on lists of symptoms of patients under their care, the method comprising the computer implemented steps of:

a) Creating a profile of a user including personal and professional information, research data, lists of symptoms and health information of patients under the user'"'"'s care;

b) Calculating a matching index for a list of symptoms of patient relative to each target list of symptoms, wherein the matching index is calculated by list matching algorithms and methods well-known in the art;

c) Creating and displaying a match report that ranks target lists of symptoms relative to a list of symptoms of patient according to their respective matching index;

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the personal information includes, but is not limited to, name, birth date, gender, photo, address, e-mail, and phone number.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the professional information includes, but is not limited to, medical specialty, academic degrees, job address, e-mail, phone number, job position, bio sketch, ré

sumé

, research interests, past and ongoing research projects.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the research data include, but are not limited to, biochemical test results, imaging exam results, pathology exam results, clinical trial results, molecular diagnostic results, and laboratory research results.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a list of symptoms of patient includes, but is not limited to, signs, manifestations, presentations, aspects;

patient basic information (e.g., age, gender);

patient history (e.g., prior illnesses, parental health information);

history of patient complaints and progress;

physical signs (e.g., vital signs) and the results of self- or assisted-physical examination maneuvers;

laboratory and test results;

results of an imaging modality of choice.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein each list of symptom is associated with a patient, and wherein each patient is associated with a user.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a list of symptoms of patient is created by either:

selecting symptoms from a list of symptoms;

or

user entering symptoms.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the match report further comprises detailed information about the compatibility between a list of symptom of patient and each target list of symptom with respect to the patient information and the user who has that patient under his/her care.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising of:

d) a communication media between users, wherein the communication media is selected by the user from a group consisting of real time means comprising, but not limited to, instant messaging, voice, voice and video communication session, and asynchronous means comprising, but not limited to, text, voice, video or graphical messages exchanged via e-mail or via a local “

inbox”

.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the matching system is provided to the users by means of a website.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the website may also provides:

access to a rare diseases database containing clinical and molecular information about such diseases;

access to a computerized diagnostic tool to assist physicians during a patient with rare disease examination;

access to scientific and technical literature provided by third party websites;

access to educational tools that provide courses and/or training on rare diseases;

access to healthcare related information through third party websites; and

,

marketing tools that may be used by the website to promote its and/or third party products and services to users.

12. A system for matching users interested in studying and/or sharing information about rare diseases based on lists of symptoms of patients under their care, comprising a server having:

at least one storage device to store user profiles, matching reports, and the rare disease database;

at least one processor having a memory, coupled to the storage device;

the storage device to store software applications for controlling the processor and the processor is operative with the software applications to manage the website and the services provided by the system; and

,

connection means to a network of communications.