The Dutch 'HandScan' has been officially in use abroad since August. Clinics in Germany and Belgium have purchased the innovative rheumatic scanner from Eindhoven start-up Hemics. Hemics says this is an important step towards its goal of also making a difference in the lives of many rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients internationally.
The HandScan was introduced in 2015 with the underlying idea of making it easier to monitor the inflammatory process in RA. It is a Dutch invention, developed by start-up Hemics. Hemics emerged from Philips Research in Eindhoven, where this safe 'Optical Inflammation Detection' technology was originally conceived. The HandScan is a new, optical measurement method, and can offer an alternative to the subjective squeeze test. These are often experienced by rheumatoid arthritis patients as painful.
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Around 100,000 patients in the Netherlands suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes joint inflammation. Currently, medical examinations are still mainly performed manually by the rheumatologist: inflammations and swellings are assessed by squeezing and feeling the patients' hands.
The HandScan works differently: a patient puts his or her hands through pressure sleeves and places the hands on a translucent hand rest. Pressure cuffs around the forearms are inflated for a short time to adjust blood flow in the hands. At the same time, the hands are illuminated to measure the rate and volume of blood, an indication of inflammation. Here, the HandScan supports the rheumatologist to objectively assess disease activity in a quick, safe and painless way.
Maxima Medical Center collaborated in the development of the device and was therefore the first hospital to start using the HandScan. In the coming period, the HandScan is expected to become available in at least six other medical centres. Work is also already underway on a variant of the HandScan that scans inflammation in the feet. In addition, the developers are looking at whether the device can also be used for other diseases, such as osteoarthritis.
Frequent monitoring
Because the HandScan system works relatively simply and quickly, it is possible to monitor RA more frequently ('Tight Control'). This, in turn, could lead to better treatment outcomes for patients. Earlier this summer, the University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU) published results of research that showed that the HandScan matched ultrasound better than the usual physical examination (pinch test), an examination that can detect inflammation well but is very labour-intensive and therefore less applied in clinical practice.
Petra van den Elsen, CEO of Hemics, says that the good research results have made a major contribution to the successful launch of the HandScan in the Netherlands. "The HandScan is increasingly being used in the Netherlands for research as well as clinical practice, and that is just the beginning. As Dutch rheumatology is highly regarded internationally, we are now also seeing interest in the HandScan increasing abroad. Apart from Germany and Belgium, we are also in talks with hospitals in other countries and will expand further in Europe in the near future."
The HandScan will be used in Germany in an early diagnostics programme. Prof Andreas Schwarting, (Head of the Rheumatology Division of Mainz University Hospital, and director of the Rheumatology Centre Rhineland-Palatinate in Bad Kreuznach), says the HandScan will play an important role in the hospital's rheumatological healthcare programme, which focuses on early diagnosis and treatment of RA in an area of 5 million people.
In Belgium, the first two centres are also taking the HandScan systems into use this month: Ziekenhuisnetwerk Antwerpen and CHU de Liège (University Hospital Liege).
Source: Hemics
