Senior Design Projects

ECS193 A/B Winter & Spring 2023

Functional status assessment for kidney transplant candidates and recipients

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Junichiro Sageshima, MD
UC Davis Health, Transplant Surgery

Project's details

Functional status assessment for kidney transplant candidates and recipients
Each year, approximately 130,000 patients develop end-stage renal disease (ESKD) in the U.S. Kidney transplantation is the best treatment for many ESKD patients. However, for some, especially the elderly and frail, the procedure's risks outweigh its benefits [1]. In 2020, 2,600 candidates were referred to the UC Davis Transplant Center, but only 440 patients were deemed eligible and placed on the transplant waiting list. Assessment of functional status and frailty is an essential aspect of candidate evaluation. We introduced a 6-minute walk test, a 30-second sit-to-stand test, and other frailty measures (e.g., grip strength) in the clinic and transplant admission to quantify a candidate's functional status objectively. However, isolated assessments with these tests may not represent candidates' true functional status and may not be the best outcome predictor.
Through this project, we aim to capture and analyze transplant candidates' and recipients' weekly physical activity data. Many transplant candidates and recipients carry mobile devices such as cell phones, watches, and fitness trackers that can be used to collect activity data. For example, an iPhone can collect walking distance, speed, step length, asymmetry, and double support time. These data, along with the patient's characteristics (e.g., age, gender, comorbidity) and other objective data collected at the clinic, will be used to predict transplant outcomes (e.g., length of stay, readmissions, ED visits, patient survival). The effectiveness of interventions based on these data before and after transplantation will also be evaluated.
1. Capable of full-stack development
2. Some knowledge about PHI handling and HIPAA
3. Willingness and good communication skills to work with the healthcare team
1. Mobile Apps to collect and transfer data from mobile devices to cloud database – ideally capable of data acquisition from both iOS/watchOS and Android/Fitbit devices.
2. For a working prototype, the backend database can be existing DBaaS (e.g., MongoDB, Firebase, AWS, Azure) as long as protected health information (PHI) is not included. A HIPAA-compliant on-premise or secure cloud database managed by UCDH IT may be required for actual participants' data storage.
3. Web App to access and extract collected data.
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30-60 min every two weeks
Open source project
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