Research Projects

HybridVITA
Medical care for patients with chronic skin diseases through an app-based hybrid solution featuring contactless viso-tactile diagnostics.
Start: 05/2022
End: 04/2025

The goal of the HybridVITA project is to improve patient care through demand-driven, virtual ward rounds. To this end, an AI-supported system for interaction, diagnostics, and therapy is to be developed, which merges virtual and physical processes. Using a camera, dermatologists can contactlessly capture the blood flow and texture of a skin lesion and 'feel' them via a sensory glove. This enables early follow-up diagnostics, easier categorization, and faster initiation of necessary therapies. At the same time, it offers greater transparency in treatment and documentation, as well as an improvement in the doctor-patient relationship through interaction and psychological feedback.
HybridVITA is an innovative medical collaborative project focused on improving the quality of life for patients with chronic skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. With eight million affected individuals in Germany alone and 800 million worldwide, the need for effective and efficient treatment is more evident than ever.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between patients and dermatologists and to drastically reduce waiting times for university hospital appointments, which currently exceed six months. HybridVITA leverages state-of-the-art technology to enhance interaction, diagnosis, and therapy for patients with chronic inflammatory skin diseases.

Through our mobile software application, which runs on any conventional smartphone, dermatologists can visually quantify and "feel" the blood flow and texture of skin lesions—all during a virtual ward round. This tech-supported approach enables early diagnostics, a simple method for triaging, and the faster initiation of necessary therapies.

HybridVITA is more than just an app. It is a solution designed to maintain care for patients with chronic inflammatory skin diseases even in exceptional situations. By using intelligent pre-aggregation of longitudinal data, we can distinguish severe disease progressions from mild ones, enabling better triaging. With HybridVITA, approximately 50% of direct patient contacts in dermatology practices and clinics could be avoided.

In a world where the demand for telemedicine applications is steadily growing, HybridVITA offers a secure and effective solution for patients who require high-quality medical care without compromising their health. Our AI-based app aims to significantly improve the physical and mental health of these patients while predicting and preventing severe disease flare-ups.

Role of the FZI
As part of the HybridVITA collaborative project, the FZI is designing and developing a tactile interface demonstrator that transfers existing manual scoring methods in treatment to remote diagnosis, thereby enabling accurate diagnosis via telemedicine. Throughout the project, the system will be iteratively developed and improved with the involvement of end users.

Furthermore, Photoplethysmography (PPGI) is being used to record the perfusion of affected skin areas, allowing for more detailed monitoring of disease progression. PPGI algorithms enable video-based self-assessment by patients for an objective evaluation of their condition.
The FZI leads the user-centered development and promotes cascading interaction between patient, physician, and the HybridVITA system.

Contact person
Staff
Division: Embedded Systems and Sensors Engineering
Branch Office Berlin

Funding notice:
The HybridVITA project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology, and Space as part of the research program 'Hybrid Interaction Systems for Maintaining Health even in Exceptional Situations' (HIS).

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